- 
 
UCSB LIBRARY 
 
 A- 
 
HELLENISM AND CHRISTIANITY 
 
HELLENISM 
 
 AND 
 
 CHRISTIANITY 
 
 By 
 
 GERALD FRIEDLANDER 
 
 MINISTER OF THE WESTERN SYNAGOGUE, LONDON. 
 
 Author of "Th* Law of Lin-e in tlt Old and New Tettantents" 
 
 " The Grace of God," "The Jeiclxh Sources of the Sermon on the 
 
 Mu>ii," " Rabbinic PkUMfky and Ethics" etc. 
 
 LONDON 
 
 P. VALLENTINE & SON'S (Successors). 
 
 31, DUKE STREET, ALDGATE, E.G. 
 
 1912 
 
DEDICATED IN GRATITUDE 
 TO 
 
 JENNY LIEPMANN 
 
 June 2gth, 
 
CONTENTS. 
 
 CHAP. 
 
 PREFACE ... ... ... ... ... ix 
 
 I THE SON OF MAN AS A MESSIANIC TITLE ... 1 
 
 II HELLENISM AND CHRISTIANITY ... ... 26 
 
 III JEWISH HELLENISM AND CHRISTIANITY ... 55 
 
 IV PHILO AND THE NEW TESTAMENT ... ... 84 
 
 V THE "SON OF GOD" WHO DIES AND COMES 
 
 TO LIFE AGAIN ... ... ... ... 126 
 
 VI THE DYING SAVIOUR GOD... ... ... 148 
 
 POSTSCRIPT ... ... ... ... 1% 
 
 INDICES ... ... ... 201 
 
PREFACE. 
 
 THE present volume is intended to be a sequel 
 to the author's Jewish Sources of the Sermon on 
 the Mount, in which the teaching of Jesus was 
 compared with the teaching of the Synagogue. An 
 attempt is made in the present book to inquire 
 into the relation between the New Testament 
 Christology and the theology underlying the creeds 
 and cults of the Hellenistic world in the first 
 century, C.E. 
 
 The latest results in the study of comparative 
 religious history enable us to account for the rise of 
 Christianity, without being obliged to rely exclusively 
 upon the Gospels and the other books of the New 
 Testament. The studies of Frazer, Pfleiderer, Deiss- 
 mann, Cumont, Gunkel, Jeremias and Bruckner have 
 made it possible for the following pages to be 
 written. The aim of the writer is to consider more 
 particularly some aspects of the Messianic doctrine 
 peculiar to the New Testament, and in the second 
 place to compare this doctrine with Judaism and 
 the other contemporary religions. It will be 
 
 IX 
 
x PREFACE 
 
 necessary to discuss somewhat in detail some of the 
 Messianic titles found in the New Testament. We 
 will try to determine whether Hellenism or Judaism is 
 to be held responsible for the origin and development 
 of these Christological terms and ideas which Judaism 
 has invariably rejected, in spite of the incessant 
 attempts on the part of the Christian Church to 
 convert the unbelief of Israel. No attempt will be 
 made to attack in any way any section of Christen- 
 dom ; but the author believes that the time is now ripe 
 for placing before his co-religionists some of the results 
 of comparative theology established by modern his- 
 torical criticism, excavation and scientific research. 
 
 The Jew has guarded most loyally his splendid 
 heritage for many centuries in the past ; and he will, 
 it is hoped, find in the following pages some modern 
 reasons for adhering to the faith of his fathers. The 
 Jew still believes that the mission of Israel is a real 
 living power in the world of to-day. To live the 
 true Jewish life is the highest ideal he knows. He 
 has learnt from the Prophets and from history that 
 Israel has been chosen to be a " light to the Gentiles " ; 
 but he has also been taught, and he has experienced, 
 that the light of Israel is God. The Christian Church 
 has always felt herself bound to preach and teach 
 her doctrines to Jews and other disbelievers. The 
 Jews have, for nineteen centuries past, rarely followed 
 the lines laid down by the Church, because they 
 had no opportunity of engaging in missionary work, and 
 because they had no desire to attack Christianity ; but 
 
PREFACE xi 
 
 their only concern was to defend Judaism, and to 
 safeguard their glorious heritage. This is also the 
 Jewish attitude to-day. We ask that the missionaries 
 who seek to capture the souls of Israel should begin 
 their labours by considering the established facts of 
 history, which constitute no small part of truth. The 
 only defence that a real religion needs is truth, 
 which is being revealed more and more, day by day. 
 
 The subject selected, Hellenism and Christianity, 
 is, it is believed, somewhat novel, inasmuch as there 
 is no work in English written by a Jew on this theme. 
 In another sense the subject dealt with is also new, 
 because there is no English book extant, which has 
 approached the topic from the modern historical and 
 critical standpoint. It will be necessary to have recourse 
 to the two sources of new light, which compel us to 
 reconsider in their entirety our old theories in the 
 domain of Xew Testament origins. I refer to the study 
 of Comparative Religion, and secondly, we must take 
 note of the new study of Eastern Archajology. In this 
 subject Dr. Deissmann's Licht vom Osten is epoch- 
 making. Many of the conclusions which will be drawn 
 must be more or less of a tentative character. The 
 mediaeval apologist, Isaac of Troki, did well to quote 
 the proverb, " If Socrates and Plato are dear to us, the 
 Truth is dearer still." I shall tij to apply the touch- 
 stone of truth to many forms of religion, and shall 
 abide loyally by the result. May I not expect my 
 readers to act likewise ? 
 
 August, 1912. G.F. 
 
LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS. 
 
 (Excluding the usual abbreviations of Biblical Books.) 
 
 Art. 
 
 A.T 
 
 A.T.A.O 
 
 B.CE 
 
 c. 
 
 C.E 
 
 C.W 
 
 Die Religion 
 
 D.B 
 
 D.C.G 
 
 ed 
 
 Enc. Bib 
 
 Enc. Brit. 
 
 Euseb 
 
 E.T 
 
 Eth 
 
 f. 
 
 G.B 
 
 Glovei;. 
 
 Gesch 
 
 H.J.P 
 
 J.E 
 
 jud. Gesch. u. Lit. 
 
 J.Q.R 
 
 Kautzsch's A. u. P. ... 
 
 Kautzsch's O.T. 
 
 LXX 
 
 M 
 
 N.T 
 
 N.T 
 
 O.T 
 
 Pal. Am 
 
 Pat 
 
 P 
 
 Rab 
 
 R.V 
 
 Roscher 
 
 T.B. ... 
 
 TJ 
 
 Test 
 
 Theol 
 
 Zeitsch. f. wiss. Theol. 
 
 article. 
 
 Altes Testament. 
 
 Das altc Testament iniLichte des alien 
 
 Orients (Jeremias). 
 Before the Common Era. 
 circa. 
 
 Common Era. 
 
 Cohn-Wendland, ed. of Philo. 
 Die Religion des Judentums im neutes- 
 
 tamentlichen Zeitaltcr (Bousset). 
 Dictionary of tJie Bible (Hastings). 
 Dictionary of Christ and the Gospels 
 
 (Hastings), 
 edition. 
 
 Encyclopedia Biblica. 
 Encyclopedia Britannica. 
 Eusebius. 
 
 English Translation. 
 Ethiopic. 
 following. 
 
 Golden Bough (Frazer). 
 Glover, The Conflict of Religions in 
 
 the Early Roman Empire. 
 Geschichte. 
 
 History of the Jewish People. 
 Jewish Encyclopedia. 
 Jildische Geschichte und Literatur. 
 Jewish Quarterly Review. 
 Kautzsch, Die Apokryphemind Pseud- 
 
 epigraphen des Alien Testaments. 
 The Old Testament in German with 
 
 commentary, ed. Kautzsch. 
 Septuagint. 
 Mangey, ed of Philo. 
 New Testament. 
 Neues Testament. 
 Old Testament. 
 Palastinische Amoraer. 
 Patriarchs, 
 page. 
 Rabba. 
 
 Revised Version. 
 Lexikon dergriechischen undr&mischen 
 
 Mythologie (Roscher). 
 Talmud Babli. 
 
 Jerushalmi. 
 Testament. 
 Theologisch. 
 Zeitschrift fur- \ivissenschaftlich* 
 
 Theologie (Hilgenfeld). 
 
 XII 
 
CHAPTER I. 
 THE SON OF MAN AS A MESSIANIC TITLE. 
 
 MODERN theologians are generally disposed to see 
 in the New Testament theology the religious thought 
 current among the Palestinian Jews of the first century. 
 Thus, because the Gospels speak of the " Son of 
 Man" as a Messianic title, it is taken for granted 
 that to the Jews to whom Jesus spoke in Galilee, 
 or in Judea, this term meant all that modem theology 
 reads into it. We find that this assumption has 
 been adopted by such eminent scholars as Pfleiderer, 
 Gunkel and Bousset. The opinions of these authorities 
 have been recently utilized by Drews in his " Christ 
 Myth" According to this writer 1 the New Testament 
 looks upon Jesus as a God. Dr. Drews tries to 
 account for this doctrine by assuming that the Jews, 
 before the time that Jesus is supposed to have lived, 
 worshipped a cult-God named Jesus. Dr. Drews also 
 deals with the New Testament doctrine of the Messiah 
 as a pre-existent divine being known as the " Son of 
 Man" and the "Son of God." 
 
 Our immediate purpose is to discuss the meaning 
 and history of the term "Sou of Man." In other 
 
2 HELLENISM AND CHRISTIANITY 
 
 words, What did the Messianic idea mean to a Jew 
 of Palestine in the first century C.E. ? We are 
 informed by Dr. Drews 1 that at first the prophets 
 had described "the Messiah as a human being, as a 
 new David or of his seed theocratic king, divinely 
 favoured prince of peace, and just ruler over his 
 people." Thus far so good. This is an excellent 
 description, and if it had only been left at this point, 
 we should have been content with this very brief 
 account. Dr. Drews is, however, only on the threshold 
 of his Messianic edifice. He asserts, following Dr. 
 'Gunkel's theory, which is set forth in his fascinating 
 .and valuable book " Zum religionsgeschichtlichen 
 Veratfindnis des Neuen Testaments"- that " among 
 the prophets the Messiah was more and more assigned 
 the part of a divine king. . . . Secret and super- 
 natural, as was his nature, so should the birth of the 
 Messiah be. Though a divine child, he was born 
 in lowly state. The personality of the Messiah 
 mingled with that of God Himself, as though it were 
 God Himself, of whose ascending the throne and 
 journey heavenwards the Psalmists sing. These alter- 
 nations of the Messiah between a human and a divine 
 nature appear still more clearly in the Jewish Apocalyp- 
 tics of the last century before, and the first century 
 after Christ. Thus the Apocalypse of Daniel (c. 165 
 B.C.E.) speaks of one, who as the Son of Man will 
 descend upon the clouds of Heaven and will be 
 brought before the "Ancient of Days." The whole 
 
 . cit. pp. 40 ff. 2pp. 24 ff. 
 
THE SON OF MAN AS A MESSIANIC TITLE 3 
 
 tone of the passage leaves no doubt that the Son 
 of Man (barnasha) is a superhuman being representing 
 the Deity." Thus far Dr. Drews and his authority, 
 Dr. Gunkel. 
 
 At first sight, this theory might seem most 
 convincing. Prophets and Psalmists are cited as 
 authorities for declaring the Messiah of Israel to 
 be a divine being. It is therefore imperative to 
 investigate this theory, which has not been refuted 
 or questioned in any quarter. It is quite inadmissible 
 to infer from the names or titles " divine hero " and 
 "Father of Eternity" which occur in Isaiah (is. 5), 
 that the Messiah was transfigured by the prophet 
 or by his readers into a divine being. Assuming for 
 the moment that this passage in Isaiah refers to the 
 Messiah, then the titles bestowed on him, El Gibbor,- 
 Abi 'Ad 3 ("divine hero, father of eternity") no more 
 imply Deity, than do the words used by Jacob when 
 addressing Esau (Genesis xxxiii. 10) ; " Forasmuch 
 as I have seen thy face, as one seeth the face of 
 God." This conclusion is even accepted by Dr. Duhm 
 in his commentary on Isaiah (in loc.). The Jews, 
 however, have by no means interpreted Isaiah ix. 5, 
 as referring to the Messiah. Rashi, Ibn-Ezra and 
 Kimchi, explain the verse as pointing to Hezekiah 
 i.e. " God Strengthens " whose name is paraphrased 
 iu El Gibbor ("divine hero" or, rather, "mighty 
 hero "). Needless to say there is no biblical authority 
 
 * Christ Myth, y. 41. 
 
4 HELLENISM AND CHRISTIANITY 
 
 for speaking of the Messiah as a divine child whose 
 nature and birth were to be supernatural. 
 
 The name Abi 'Ad ("father of eternity ") might 
 also be rendered "father of booty." 1 The Targurn 
 of this verse of Isaiah lias also been held to teach 
 the divinity of the Messiah. It is usually translated 
 by Christian scholars as follows : "To us a child is 
 born, to us a son is given, and he shall receive the 
 law upon him to keep it, and his name is called 
 from eternity Wonderful, Counsellor, Mighty God, 
 Continuing for ever, the Messiah ; for peace shall 
 be multiplied upon us in his days." This version is 
 not quite accurate, inasmuch as the Aramaic Dip |0 
 which is translated " from eternity " should be rendered 
 " before " or " in the presence of " (see instances in 
 Levy's ^Targum Dictionary ii. p. 345). The Targum 
 passage should be rendered thus : " And his name 
 is called before Him (Who is Wonderful in counsel, 
 the Mighty God, abiding for ever) Messiah." 
 
 Dr. Drummond 2 very properly observes : "as there 
 is nothing answering to Dip |D in the Hebrew original, 
 we can hardly avoid supposing that the Targumist 
 inserted the phrase with the distinct intention of 
 removing from the Messiah a series of epithets which 
 appeared unduly exalted. Elsewhere the Targums 
 represent the Messiah simply as a human being, of 
 the house of David." The most recent edition of 
 Kautzsch's Old Testament does not attribute any 
 
 1 Sce Biur in loc. -The Jewish Messiah^ p. 295. 
 
THE Sox OF MAN AS A MESSIANIC TITLE 5 
 
 divinity or supernatural nature to the king described 
 by Isaiah in the famous ixth chapter. On the other 
 hand, it is only fair to point out that according to 
 Dr. Gressinann, the title 'El Gibbor' is used elsewhere 
 in the Old Testament as a divine title. He refers to 
 Is. x. 21 ; Jer. xxxii. 18 and Deut. x. 17. He 
 concludes that the 'El Gibbor' or Hero-God of Is. ix. 
 5, is a human king and God at the same time, a sort 
 of demi-God. 1 It is worth while to glance at the 
 passages mentioned by this scholar. In Jer. xxxii. 
 18, God is spoken of as "great and mighty" ; but 
 the exact fonn of Isaiah's expression is not to be found 
 in Jeremiah. The same criticism holds good with 
 reference to Deut x. 17. The only other passage is 
 Isaiah x. 21, " A remnant shall return, even the 
 remnant of Jacob unto the mighty God." But the 
 text of Isaiah ix. .">. might also be rendered : " And 
 his name has been called Marvellous Counsellor of the 
 mighty God." 
 
 Dr. Gunkel refers to Micah v. 2, to support his 
 theory that the Messiah's birth is of a mysterious 
 character. 2 This verse is rendered by the Revised 
 Version as follows : " But thou, Beth-lehem Ephra- 
 thah, which art little to be among the thousands of 
 Judah, out of thee shall one come forth unto me that 
 is to be ruler in Israel ; whose goings forth are from of 
 old, from everlasting." This version might be improved. 
 
 Ursprung der Israelitisch-judischen Eschatologie(\&i&\ 
 p. 281. 
 
 -Op. cit. p. 24 f. 
 
G HELLENISM AND CHRISTIANITY 
 
 We suggest the following : " But thou Bethlehem 
 Ephrathali, which art to be least among the thousands 
 of Judah, from thee shall he come forth unto me who is 
 to be ruler over Israel ; whose ancestry belongs to the 
 past, even to the days of old." There is no idea here 
 of the pre-existence of the Messiah, as Dr. Horton 
 suggests in The Century Bible (in loc.). The doctrine 
 of the mysterious birth is hardly warranted by the next 
 verse : " Therefore will he give them up until the time 
 that she which travaileth hath brought forth." The 
 Hebrew text would be more correctly rendered by the 
 following version : " Therefore will he give them up 
 until the time which travaileth hath brought forth." 
 Kautzsch (ii., p. 53,) renders the passage : "Therefore 
 will he give them up until the time when one, who 
 is to travail hath brought forth." That is to say, God 
 will send the second David (the Messiah) who Avill 
 rule over the world and restore peace to Israel, but 
 until he has been born, God will allow His people to 
 suffer. Dr. Guthe, the writer of the Commentary in 
 Kautzsch (ibid.), thinks it just possible that Micah 
 (v. 2,) may be connected with Isaiah viL 14, the 
 famous Immanuel passage. In neither case does Dr. 
 Guthe suggest the slightest reference to a supernatural 
 Messiah. 
 
 Dr. Gunkel's Messianic theory is adopted by Drews. 1 
 We are given to understand by these scholars that " the 
 personality of the Messiah mingled with that of God." 
 
 1 Gunkel, op. cit. p. 24 f., and Drews, op. tit. p. 41. 
 
THE SON OF MAN AS A MESSIANIC TITLE 7 
 
 The passages of Scripture which are quoted to support 
 this new interpretation are : Pss. xlvii. 6, 9, andlvii. 12. 
 As a matter of fact there is no reference to the Messiah 
 in the xlviith Psalm. God alone is described as the 
 King of the earth. Psalm Ivii. 12 must be a printer's 
 mistake ; the last verse of this Psalm, according to the 
 English Revised Version, is verse 11: "Be thou 
 exalted, O God, above the heavens ; let thy glory be 
 above all the earth." Dr. Gunkel, of course, follows 
 the German Bible, and quite accurately refers to verse 
 12. Here again there is no thought of the Messianic 
 King. Kautzsch (ii., p. 153) considers Psalm xlvii. to 
 be a hymn of praise in honour of God as the King of 
 all people. He takes Psalm Ivii. as the Psalmist's 
 prayer to God. The Messiah is not mentioned at all 
 in the entire Psalm. 
 
 It is very remarkable that statements such as 
 the one in question are not only allowed to pass 
 unchallenged, but they are repeated by theologians, 
 who are satisfied that if Dr. Gunkel says that it is 
 so then there is an end to the matter. Moreover, 
 do we not find that various Old Testament passages 
 are referred to as the authority for the conclusions 
 arrived at by the modern scholars? It is only by 
 careful examination of the authorities relied on by 
 the religious historical school that we are able to 
 determine whether the latest results of criticism are 
 to be rejected or accepted. As an instance of this 
 method, the following illustration will show how 
 
8 HELLENISM AND CHRISTIANITY 
 
 necessary it is to test for oneself the facts assumed 
 to be established by modern criticism. 
 
 "It has been shown by recent research," says Dr. 
 Percy Gardner in his erudite book on The Religion* 
 Experience of St. Paul 1 " that the notion of an exalted 
 spiritual Messiah, who should come irom heaven and 
 was to return thither, who was to be no mere earthly 
 king and conqueror, but a great angelic being, was 
 by no means unknown among the Jews at the time 
 of the birth of Jesus. Such a supernatural Messiah 
 is shadowed forth in the Psalms of Solomon (xvii. 
 and xviii.), and in the Book of Enoch (Chapter xlviii.). 
 To such thought the Messiah was pre-existent in 
 heaven waiting to be revealed to men, the prince 
 of angels." 
 
 If we refer to the Psalms of Solomon (xvii. and 
 xviii.) we certainly find there the Messianic ideal of 
 the Pharisaic Jews about a century before the 
 preaching of Jesus. The date of these Psalms is 
 about 60 B.C.E. Dr. Kittel gives either 63-45 B.C.E. 
 or 80-45 B.C.E. 2 Now the Messiah in these Psalms 
 is David's descendant, and, of course, the King of 
 Israel All that he does is done with the help of 
 God. In the words of Dr. M. R. James (Co-editor 
 of the Psalms) : The Messiah " will reign in holiness 
 and justice, not by force of arms. He is anointed 
 "Xfiiarrosj king and priest, but he is not divine. The 
 new features in this description are mainly two : 
 
 J p. 184. 2 Kautzsch's A. u. P. ii. p. 128. 
 
THE SON OF MAN AS A MESSIANIC TITLE 9 
 
 (1) Messiah is a person. Excluding Daniel vii. as of 
 disputed interpretation, we have this point plainly 
 stated for the first time in the literature of Palestine 
 
 (2) The Epithet xp/o-ro? ^ 8 nere ^ K ^> 
 
 applied to him." 1 There is therefore no ground for 
 Professor Gardner's statement that a supernatural 
 Messiah is shadowed forth in the Psalms of Solomon. 
 
 If an expression in any of the Apocryphal or 
 Pseudepigraphic books seems to point to a super- 
 natural Messiah we must bear in mind Dr. Kittel's 
 admirable comment "that the Psalms of Solomon 
 and the LXX were not preserved by the Synagogue, 
 but by the Christian Church, and that therefore it 
 must not surprise us, if Christian influence even in the 
 earliest times was brought to bear on this literature." 2 
 
 This remark applies to the entire Apocryphal and 
 
 / 
 
 Pseudepigraphic Jewish Literature. There seems, 
 however, to be in Enoch xlviiL better material for 
 speaking of a supernatural Messiah. Professor Gardner 
 probably refers to the Ethiopic Enoch xlviii., in which 
 the Son of Man is revealed upon the throne of his 
 glory as the righteous judge both of the living and of 
 the dead. This passage, which has been based on 
 Daniel vii. 13, is the closest parallel, outside the New 
 Testament, to the famous eschatological discourse m 
 Matthew xxiv. 31-45. We shall return to the con- 
 sideration of the Book of Enoch when we have 
 
 1 Hastings' D.B. iv. p. 163 and see Psalms of Solomon (Ryle 
 and James) p. 141 f. 
 
 2 Kautzsch's A. u. P. ii. p. 147. 
 
 
10 HELLENISM AND CHRISTIANITY 
 
 discussed the meaning of the term " Son of Man " in 
 Daniel, to which we must now turn our attention. 
 
 We have to consider the reference to Daniel 
 (vii 13) : "I saw in the night vision, and behold there 
 came with the clouds of heaven one like unto a son of 
 man, and he came even to the ancient of days." There 
 can be no doubt whatever that the author of this 
 passage intended to contrast " the one like unto a son 
 of man " with " the ancient of days." It was far from 
 his mind to identify these two beings as Dr. Drews 
 suggests when he says : " the Son of Man is a super- 
 human being representing the Deity." 1 In the first 
 place we should ask ourselves, what is the meaning of 
 this verse of Daniel ? In order to answer this question 
 we must read the entire chapter. We shall then see 
 that the "Son of Man" stands contrasted with the 
 four animal world-powers previously described. These 
 symbolical shapes represent the cruel and bestial 
 world-kingdoms, which are finally to be annihilated 
 and replaced by the more humane world-empire or 
 Kingdom of God on earth, peopled by the Saints of the 
 Most High. This ideal is symbolized by the vision of 
 the night, when the apocalyptic dreamer sees one 
 like unto a son of man coming with the clouds of 
 heaven. The dark night of the brutal world-powers 
 will gradually give place to the dawning reign of a puri- 
 fied humanity. Ibn-Ezra points out that the meaning 
 of the Son of Man is not the personal Messiah, but the 
 
 *0p. cit. p. 41. 
 
THE Sox OF MAN AS A MESSIANIC TITLE 11 
 
 theocratic kingdom of God's holy people (i.e., the 
 Messianic kingdom ; see verses 18 and 27 of this chapter 
 of Daniel). It is of interest to note that this interpreta- 
 tion accords with that given by Dr. H. J. Holtzmann, 1 
 who observes that " Son of Man " in Daniel viL 13, 
 refers to the human Messianic empire, which is also 
 humane, as opposed to the world-empires represented 
 by the animal symbolical shapes described in chapter 
 viL Dr. Holtzmann also points out that " Son of Man " 
 is really identical with " Man " (cf. Psalm viil 5). 
 Further, that the term " Son of Man " in the Hebrew 
 Bible is always used to emphasize the enormous 
 contrast between Man and God. " Son of Man " occurs 
 in Ezekiel 89 times, and never bears the interpretation 
 suggested by Dr. Drews and the scholars on whom he 
 relies. It is, moreover, noteworthy that the New 
 Testament term (6 vio? rov avOpunrov) the Son of Man, 
 which is generally explained to be a Messianic title, 
 has no parallel at all in the Old Testament in this 
 sense. Nevertheless, Baldeusperger 3 regards it as one 
 of the established results of modern criticism that the 
 origin of the New Testament phrase is to be sought in 
 Daniel vii. 13. This seems somewhat unlikely in view of 
 the generally accepted interpretation of Daniel viL 13 : 
 " One like unto a Son of Man " i.e., one with human 
 attributes in contrast to the ferocity of the wild beasts. 
 " The beasts " mean kingdoms, so also " one like unto 
 a Son of Man " refers to a kingdom. This interpre- 
 
 1 Hand-Commentar zinn Neuen Testament, i., p. 83. 
 
 2 Thcol. Rundschau, p. 201 ff. 
 
12 HELLENISM AND CHRISTIANITY 
 
 tation is admitted also by Dr. Driver 1 , by Dr. 
 Drummond 2 and by Marti 3 , who denies that Daniel 
 refers here to the Messiah at all. 
 
 It may be objected that if the Book of Daniel did 
 not indicate the Messiah by the term " Son of Man," 
 then in the pre-Christian age the two terms were not 
 interchangeable. It is on this point that the whole 
 crux of the discussion is concentrated. How did the 
 Jewish readers of the Book of Daniel in the pre- 
 Christian age interpret the expression, "Son of Man"? 
 Drews 4 points out that " in the picture language of 
 Enoch (in the last decade before Christ) the Messiah, 
 the ' Chosen One/ the ' Son of Man,' appears as a 
 supernatural pre-existing being, who was hidden in God 
 before the world was created, whose glory continues 
 from eternity to eternity, and his might from generation 
 to generation, in whom the spirit of wisdom and power 
 dwells, who judges hidden things, punishes the wicked, 
 but will save the holy and just (chapters xlv.-li.). 
 Indeed, the Apocalypse of Esdras (the so-called Fourth 
 Book of Esdras) expressly combats the opinion that the 
 judgment of the world will come through another than 
 God, and likewise describes the Messiah as a kind of 
 'Second God,' as the 'Son of God,' as the 'human 
 incarnation of the Godhead,' (Ch. vi. L, sqq.) " 
 Drews thinks that this sketch of these Apocalyptic 
 
 1 Commentary' on Daniel, p. 102. 
 
 * Jewish Messiah, p. 229. Kautzsch, ii. p. 436. 
 
 *OJ>. dt. p. 42. 
 
THE Sox OF MAX AS A MESSIANIC TITLE 13 
 
 books justifies his view that the pre-Christian Messiah 
 was a divine being 1 . 
 
 Two questions arise in criticizing this theory : 
 
 (1) What is the date of this apocalyptic teaching ? and 
 
 (2) Was it Jewish teaching? With reference to the 
 first question, very difficult critical problems arise 
 with respect to the date and authorship of the Book 
 of Enoch. The sections referred to by Drews and 
 Gardner belong to the first part of the book, 
 which is known as the Similitudes. According to Dr. 
 Charles this section of the Book of Enoch was written 
 about 94-79 B.C.E., or 70-64 B.C.E. The Messianic 
 doctrine of this part of the book is unique, not only as 
 regards the other sections of Enoch, but also in Jewish 
 literature as a whole. This enables us to answer our 
 second question that the Messianic picture of the 
 Similitudes of Enoch did not represent the broad 
 Jewish view. Dr. Charles 2 remarks : " Enoch's accep- 
 tance among Christians as a Messianic prophet was the 
 
 ground of his rejection among the Jews This 
 
 opposition to Enoch is unswervingly pursued in the 
 Talmud, and his name and works are always studiously 
 ignored." 3 
 
 Dr. Charles infers that the Messianic title " Son of 
 Man," which appears for the first time in Jewish 
 literature in Enoch, is historically the source of the 
 
 1 This is really the view advocated by Gressmann, Gunkel 
 and Gardner. 
 
 -Hastings' D. B. i. p. 708. 
 
 3 See also Charles, Apocalypse of Bant ch, pp. 21-22, 101. 
 
14 HELLENISM AND CHRISTIANITY 
 
 New Testament designation. This view is in direct 
 conflict with Dr. Baldensperger's theory, which we have 
 mentioned. There can be no doubt at all that the 
 Gospels and some other books of the New Testament 
 were very considerably influenced by the Book of 
 Enoch. This at least suggests that the date of Enoch 
 must be earlier than that of the Gospels unless we 
 can maintain with some show of reason that the 
 Messianic passages in Enoch have been interpolated 
 and coloured by New Testament ideas. Bruno Bauer 
 (Kritik d. Gesch., L, 402 [1841]) first called attention 
 to the probability of the interpolation of the "Son 
 of Man " passages in Enoch. Dr. Driver 1 warns us 
 "that it can hardly be said to be certain that the 
 Similitudes of Enoch are of pre-Christian origin." 
 
 With the modern Christian scholars the favourite 
 chapter of the Similitudes is xlviii. This was referred 
 to by Professor Gardner, and is invariably quoted by 
 all the writers who deal with the pre-Christian 
 Messianic idea. Let us turn to the chapter and 
 judge for ourselves. (1) "And in that place I saw 
 a spring of righteousness which was inexhaustible ; 
 around it were many springs of wisdom, and all the 
 thirsty drank of them and were filled with wisdom, 
 and had their abodes with the righteous and holy and 
 elect. (2) And at that hour was that Son of Man 
 named in the presence of the Lord of Spirits and his 
 name (was named) before the Head of Days. 
 
 1 Hastings' D.B. iv. p. 583. 
 
THE Sox OF MAN AS A MESSIANIC TITLE 15 
 
 (3) Before the Sun and the signs (of the] Zodiac) were 
 created, before the stars of heaven were made, was his 
 name named before the Lord of Spirits. (4) He will be 
 a staff to the righteous on which they will support 
 themselves and not foil ; he will be the light of the 
 Gentiles and the hope of those who are troubled of 
 heart." 
 
 Can there be the least doubt that verse 3 has 
 been interpolated? It is a direct contradiction to the 
 previous verse, which speaks of the name of the Son of 
 Man as being named in the hour when the thirsty drank 
 of the springs of wisdom. The text continues : (5) "All 
 who dwell on earth will fall down and bend the knee 
 before him and will bless and praise and sing unto 
 the Lord of Spirits. (6) For this reason was he 
 chosen and hidden before Him (? God), before the 
 creation of the world and for evermore. (7) And the 
 wisdom of the Lord of Spirits hath revealed him to 
 the holy and righteous, for He preserveth the lot of 
 the righteous, because they have hated - and despised 
 this world of unrighteousness, and have hated all its 
 works and ways in the name of the Lord of Spirits ; for 
 in His name will they be delivered and He is the 
 avenger of their life. (8) In those days the Kings 
 of the earth and the strong who possess the earth will 
 be of downcast countenance because of the works of 
 their hands, for on the day of their anxiety and trouble 
 their souls will not be saved. (9) I will deliver them into 
 the hands of Mine Elect ; as straw in fire and as 
 molten lead in water they shall burn in the presence 
 
16 HELLENISM AND CHRISTIANITY 
 
 of the holy and sink in the presence of the righteous, 
 so that no trace of them shall be found any more. 
 (10) On the day of their trouble shall peace obtain on 
 earth ; they shall fall down before them and never rise 
 up again. No one will be there to take them with his 
 hands and to raise them : for they have denied the Lord 
 of Spirits and His anointed. Blessed be the name of 
 the Lord of Spirits." 
 
 Is it not perfectly clear that verses 6 and 7 are also 
 an interpolation ? First of all they disturb the narrative. 
 Moreover verses 5 and 8 read very well if taken to- 
 gether. Verse 6 speaks of the pre-existence of the Son 
 of Man, whereas in verse 2 he was named before God 
 only at the time when the thirsty drank of the springs 
 of wisdom (i.e. after the creation). Moreover, the 
 interpolated verse 3 states that the name of the Son 
 of Man was named before the creation, whereas verse 
 6 says that he was chosen and hidden before the 
 creation. There is all the difference between pre- 
 existence and being named. Pre-existence implies 
 actual being, whilst being named may only denote the 
 idea of future existence. Dr. Beer 1 states that the 
 name of the Messiah was premundane according to the 
 Rabbis. He refers to Weber, p. 345, and to other 
 authorities. This comment refers to verse 3, but in his 
 commentary on verse 6 he says that the Messiah had 
 premundane personal pre-existence. He reminds us 
 
 1 Kautzsch, A. u. P. ii. p. 264, and see also Charles, The Book 
 of Enoch, p. 133 f. 
 
THE SON OF MAN AS A MESSIANIC TITLE 17 
 
 that Dr. Dalman 1 considers this 6th verse to be 
 a later addition to the text. Elsewhere 2 Dr. Beer 
 declares that " Son of Man " is used as a Messianic 
 title in Rabbinic literature. He refers to Dr. 
 Baldensperger 3 who asserts that this title was a 
 pre-Christian Jewish apocalyptic designation of the 
 Messiah. Dr. Baldensperger goes on to say that 
 " even if the Similitudes (of Enoch) have their origin 
 after the rise of Christianity, they nevertheless betray 
 their Jewish stamp." / 
 
 The Rabbinic literature to which this scholar 
 refers is rather late, it is certainly ^0*tf-Christian 
 (Targum to Psalms ii. 7 and Ixxx. 18). The Mid- 
 rash Tanchuma, Numb. I7b. (ed. Buber) speaks of 7 
 premundane things or ideas, viz : The Divine Throne, 
 the Law, the Temple, the Patriarchs, Israel, the Name 
 of the Messiah and Repentance. 4 This tradition occurs 
 again in Gen. Rab. i. 4, which distinguishes between the 
 actual Divine Throne and Law and the ideal Temple, 
 Patriarchs, and Name of the Messiah. In other words, 
 Dr. Baldensperger is not justified in saying that the 
 Rabbis taught the personal pre-mundane existence of 
 the Messiah. The utmost that can be granted is that 
 they believed that his name, as well as the Patriarchs, 
 existed ideally in the mind of God, before He made 
 the world. This is of fundamental importance in view 
 of the fact that Schlirer, Dr. Charles and other scholars 
 
 1 U'orfejesu, pp. 107; 135. 2 Kautzsch, A. u. P., ii. p. 232 
 
 3 Das Setbstbeimisstsein Jesu, p. 90. 
 
 *Cf. T. B. Nedarim 39 b. C 
 
18 HELLENISM AND CHRISTIANITY 
 
 speak of the "Messiah as pre-existing according to 
 Rabbinic teaching." It is not so. 
 
 We have still to show that verse 7 of Enoch 
 xlviii. is a later addition. Dr. Dalraan 1 urges with 
 great force that this verse contains expressions which 
 are found in the cviiith chapter (verses 8, 9 and 10), 
 which is acknowledged to be a post-Christian inter- 
 polation. In several other respects, certain parts of 
 chapter xlviii. seem to be out of place and to contradict 
 the general tendency of the previous part of the book. 
 One or two instances will make this clear. The " Son 
 of Man " is even applied in the Similitudes, (Chapter 
 IxxL) to Enoch, and therefore the term is not to be 
 understood as pointing to a "supernatural Messiah." 
 Dr. Bousset has suggested that all the " Son of Man " 
 passages in the second and third Similitudes (Chapters 
 xlv.-lxix.) are to be considered to be Christian inter- 
 polations. 2 In chapter xlv. the Messiah is called the 
 " Elect One " ; whilst in chapter xlvi. he is called 
 "Son of Man" and "the Anointed." In chapters 
 xxxix. 6 f ; xlvL 1., the Messiah has only a heavenly 
 pre-existence, and therefore xlviii. 6, with its idea of 
 pre-existence prior to the creation, contradicts the 
 earlier description. 
 
 Since there is considerable doubt as to the 
 genuineness of these Messianic passages, we are 
 hardly entitled to say with Mr. Montefiore, "but, 
 by the age of Jesus there is some evidence to show 
 
 cit. p. 135. z jesu Predigt, 1892, p. 106. 
 
THE Sox OP MAN AS A MESSIANIC TITLE 19 
 
 that, in some quarters and in some minds, the con- 
 ception of the purely human Messiah had been, to 
 some extent, transcended. Though less than and 
 distinct from God, he was conceived by some as more 
 divine than the ordinary man." (Jowett Lectures, 
 1910, p. 127). Dr. Drews would agree with this 
 view, but it is really unfounded, inasmuch as the 
 only source of contemporary information (Enoch) is 
 considered to be post-Christian, as far as its Messianic 
 references are concerned. If, however, we were to 
 assume that the Similitudes of Enoch have not been 
 subjected to post-Christian interpolations, even so it 
 would be useless to refer to the "Heavenly Son of 
 Man " of this apocalyptic book as a Messianic title 
 in the age of Jesus. The associates of Jesus looked 
 upon him as a mere man ; they knew his mother, and 
 referred to his father as the carpenter. The conception 
 of a Heavenly Son of Man could by no means be present 
 to the minds of Jesus' auditors. " How was one who 
 was now walking upon earth to come from heaven? 
 He would have needed first to be translated thither. 
 One who had died or had been rapt away from earth 
 might be brought back to earth again in this way, or a 
 being who had never before been upon earth, might be 
 conceived as descending thither." This criticism by Dr. 
 Dalman is quite to the point and disposes of the 
 imagined testimony offered by the Book of Enoch. 
 
 Thus far we see that there is no positive evidence 
 whatsoever for regarding the term " Son of Man " as a 
 title of the Messiah in the pre-Christian age. Dr. 
 
20 HELLENISM AND CHRISTIANITY 
 
 Lietzmann argues with considerable force that " Jesus 
 never applied to himself the title " Son of Man " at all, 
 because it does not exist in Aramaic, and upon linguistic 
 grounds cannot exist." 1 True it is that the Aramaic 
 Bar Nasha means literally " the Son of Man " ; but in 
 actual usage it means simply man, so that the distinc- 
 tion made in the Greek between "the man" and " the 
 Son of Man " could not have existed hi Aramaic, inas- 
 much as both expressions are expressed by the same 
 term, Bar Nasha. The title " Son of Man " as applied 
 to the Messiah, comes from the Greek, and is quite un- 
 Jewish. The Gospel tradition which attributes to Jesus 
 the use of this title is later than Jesus. Dr. Lietzmann 
 supports this conclusion by the following arguments : 
 (1) The fact that the "Son of Man" is unknown to 
 Paul ; (2) its absence likewise from the literature of the 
 sub-apostolic ages, the Didache, Clement, Polycarp, the 
 Shepherd of Hernias, etc. He urges also that " the Son 
 of Man " was no accepted Messianic title in the age of 
 Jesus. Wellhausen agrees with Lietzmann as against 
 Dalman, Schmiedel and Gunkel, 2 who think that there 
 was an esoteric meaning underlying the term, which 
 would be known to the initiated, but not to those 
 " without." The very interesting article on " Son of 
 Man," by Canon Driver, in Hastings' D.B. gives a 
 good summary of the opinions held by some of the 
 leading authorities. 
 
 *Der Menschensohn, 1896, p. 85. 
 
 2 Bousset agrees with GunkePs conclusions (see Die Religion t 
 p. 306.)- 
 
THE SON OF MAN AS A MESSIANIC TITLE 21 
 
 Dr. Charles thinks that Son of Man as a Messianic 
 title ocelli's in the Talmud (Jer. Taanith ii. 1, 65b). 
 " Abbahu said : If a man says to thee I am God, he 
 lies ; I am the Son of Man he will at last repent it ; I 
 ascend to heaven if he said it, he will not prove it." 
 The reference, however, is clearly to the story of the 
 Gospel and does not permit us to recognize in the term 
 " the Son of Man " a Messianic title as usually under- 
 stood by the Jews of the first century, c.E. 
 
 The term " Bar Nash " in the meaning of man 
 ocelli's frequently in the Rabbinic literature (e.g., T. J. 
 Taanith ii., 6oa, T. B. Meila 20b). The Talmud has 
 the term " Bar Niphle " (^flj -) "Son of the Cloud" 
 as a Messianic title (see T. B. Synhedrin 96b), although 
 in this connection the " Cloud " of Daniel viL 13, is not 
 mentioned ; but the Hebrew root ^>fiJ (to fall) is 
 suggested by the Rabbi who quoted Amos ix., 11, in 
 support of his use of this name. The passage is as 
 follows : Rabbi ; Nachman asked Rabbi Isaac, ' Hast 
 thou heard when Bar Niphle will come ? ' Rabbi Isaac 
 replied : ' Who is this Bar Xiphle ? ' Rabbi Nachman 
 said that it was (the name of) the Messiah. Whereupon 
 Rabbi Isaac exclaimed : ' Dost thou call the Messiah 
 Bar Niphle?' 'Yes,' Rabbi Nachman replied, as it 
 is said : "I will raise up (the tabernacle of David) that is 
 fallen." This discussion is much later than the age of 
 Jesus and gives no clue as to the Messianic interpreta- 
 tion of Daniel vii. in the first century. It can be safely 
 asserted that in the Talmud and the Targumim the 
 frequently recurring " Bar Nasha " does not have anj 
 
f 
 
 22 HELLENISM AND CHRISTIANITY 
 
 other meaning except man ; and that there is not the 
 least reference to the Messiah. 
 
 Dr. Drews drew attention to the Messianic des- 
 cription given by the Fourth Book of Esdras in support 
 of his views. This book is wholly inadmissible as 
 evidence for the pre-Christian teaching concerning the 
 Messiah, inasmuch as it is later than the destruction of 
 Jerusalem, and was probably written in the reign of 
 Domitian (81-96 C.E.). Moreover, the book has been 
 subjected to Christian interpolations ; the name of 
 Jesus having been inserted in vii. 28. 
 
 We shall now gather up our threads by pointing 
 out that the pre-Christian Messianic idea of Israel 
 knows nothing of a Messiah, who was described as a 
 "Son of Man coming with (or from) the Clouds." The 
 pre-existent divine Messiah is also quite foreign to the 
 Palestinian Jewish thought of this period. We shall 
 return to this point when we discuss the Messianic 
 ideas of the New Testament. 
 
 We have now finally to indicate very briefly the 
 Jewish interpretation of the Messianic idea in the first 
 century. We shall not find it in the New Testament, 
 which identifies the Messiah with the only Son of God. 
 Nor can we refer to the isolated use of " Son of Man " 
 as a Messianic title, which occurs in the Similitudes of 
 Enoch. In the Psalms of Solomon (xvii.) we meet 
 with the hope of the coming of the Messiah of the seed 
 of David, whose rule is moral and spiritual. He is 
 human, but pure from sin (xvii. 41). The Messianic 
 kingdom is of a temporal kind, although the moral 
 
THE SON OF MAN AS A MESSIANIC TITLE 23 
 
 power of its ruler is all sufficient to overcome evil 
 " He shall convict the sinners in the thoughts of their 
 hearts " (xvii. 27). In the Testaments of the Twelve 
 Patriarchs, the Messiah is a man, meek and righteous 
 and without sin (Test. Judah xxiv. 1-3), the spirit of 
 understanding and sanctification will rest upon him 
 (Test. Levi xviiL 7). He is to establish a new priest- 
 hood (ibid. viii. 14), to be a prophet of the Most High 
 (ibid, viii., 15), and shall be King over all the nation 
 (Test. Reub. vi. 11). He shall usher in the reign of 
 peace (Test. Sim. vi, 4), and sin shall disappear from 
 the earth (Test. Levi xviii. 9). The Kingdom of 
 Messiah will be a universal kingdom, embracing the 
 Gentiles (Test. Sim. vi., 5), who shall be multiplied 
 in the knowledge (of God) upon the earth (Test. Levi 
 xviii. 9). 
 
 The literature quoted is Palestinian in origin, 
 and belongs to the pre-Christian age. In Philo of 
 Alexandria, we have a contemporary of Jesus who 
 speaks of the Messianic age as being heralded by 
 " a man leading a host and warring furiously, who will 
 subdue great nations ; God sending that assistance 
 which is suitable for pious men " (" De Praemiis 
 et Poenis " 16. Mangey ii. 423). Philo looks for- 
 ward to the rule of universal peace when all men 
 will form a temple of God. 1 In the third book of 
 the Sibylline Oracles we have another Messianic 
 
 1 We shall return to this point also when we discuss the 
 Messianic idea in Philo's writings. It must suffice to say at 
 this juncture that the Messiah of Philo is not an ordinary man, 
 but the Logos. 
 
24 HELLENISM AND CHRISTIANITY 
 
 reference : " From the rising of the sun God will 
 send a king, who will cause the evil war to cease 
 throughout the world ; some will be slain, others will 
 make a covenant with him. All this will he do in 
 accordance with the good will of the great God and 
 not according to his own counsel" (iiL 652 f.) 
 
 The Jewish liturgy has its Messianic prayer in the 
 Shemoneh Esreh : " Speedily cause the offspring of 
 David, thy servant, to flourish and let his horn be 
 exalted by thy salvation, because we wait for thy 
 salvation all the day long." This was originally part 
 of the prayer for the rebuilding of Jerusalem and 
 constituted the 15th Benediction (see Tosephta, Bera- 
 choth iii. 25). There was also a prayer for the 
 Redeemer or Messiah, in the first Benediction, which 
 is earlier then the first century. The second Bene- 
 diction of the Shemoneh Esreh refers to the resurrection 
 of the dead, but this is equivalent to a reference to the 
 Messiah (see Mishna, Synhedrin x., 1-3). We must 
 also not forget that the liturgy included several passages 
 from the Old Testament which had a Messianic ten- 
 dency. Finally, let us bear in mind that the first 
 century of the common era witnessed the futile attempts 
 of many brave men to play the Messianic role ; such 
 men included Judas the Galilean ; Jesus the Galilean ; 
 Theudas, and a pretender called "the Egyptian." In 
 no case was there any contemporary belief in a mirac- 
 ulous birth or heavenly descent of these Messianic 
 claimants. The Jewish Messiah is to be a man and 
 not a god or man-god. 
 
THE Sox OF MAN AS A MESSIANIC TITLE 25 
 
 LITERATURE. 
 
 On Interpolation in Enoch, see Kautzsch, Pseudepigraphen, 
 p. 241 f. 
 
 On Son of Man see in addition to the authorities quoted, 
 Enc. Bib. iv. sub voc. ; Friedlander, Jewish Sources of the 
 Sermon on the Mount, p. 34 for reference to Schweitzer. Volz, 
 Jiuiische Eschatologie pp. 201 ff. Bousset, Die Religion des 
 Judentums tin Neuen Testanientlichen Zeitalter, p. 306, gives a 
 good bibliography. See also Hastings' D.C.G., ii. sub voc. 
 
 On Messianic Idea in Psalms of Solomon see Dr. Charles 
 in Hastings' D.B. i. p. 744, and compare also D.B. iv., 163 and 
 v. p. 299. 
 
 NOTE TO PAGE 21. 
 
 In the Book of Ecclesiasticus (xxiv. 3 f.) Wisdom declares : 
 " I came forth from the mouth of the Most High and like a mist 
 I covered the earth. I had my dwelling in the highest and my 
 throne was on the pillar of cloud" The Greek word for mist is 
 6/A/XAj; which represents the Hebrew |JJ? (cloud) cf. xliii. 22. 
 The mist IN is mentioned in the story of the creation (Gen. ii. 6). 
 The Targum of Onkelos in loc. has *Oij? (cloud) for IK. In LXX 
 of Job xxxvi. 27 ("K^) we have ei? ve<f>e\nv. Bar Niphle is 
 the " Son of a Mist " or the " Son of a Cloud " and is pro- 
 bably to be identified with Wisdom enthroned upon the Pillar 
 of Cloud. The " Wisdom " of Ecclesiasticus and of the Book 
 of Wisdom became (as we shall see) the Logos of Philo who 
 also identifies the Pillar of Cloud with the Logos (Quis Rer. 
 D. H., 42. i. M. 501 f.). 
 
CHAPTER II. 
 HELLENISM AND CHRISTIANITY. 
 
 ALEXANDER the Great, disciple of Aristotle and 
 lover of Homer, not only conquered the civilized world of 
 his day, but he also hellenized it for all time. The triumph 
 of Greek culture followed his remarkable victories. This 
 culture is known as Hellenism. We have to try to under- 
 stand the meaning and significance of this term. When 
 Philip of Macedonia conquered Athens, Thebes and 
 their allied States in 338 B.C.E. at Chteronea, it was 
 believed by the Greeks of that age that the end of 
 Hellas was at hand. Instead of this view, it would be 
 historically more correct to say that the dawn of 
 Hellenism had only just begun. What, then, is this 
 Hellenism ? 
 
 It stands for the dissolution of racial, tribal or 
 national particularism. The East was to give to, as 
 well as take from, the West. Alexander's marriage 
 with a Persian princess at Susa 324 B.C.E. exemplifies 
 this great fact. Then again, Hellenism meant the 
 destruction of the narrow local politics of the Greek 
 City States. The once independent, but small cities are 
 now merged into large monarchies. Hellenism had its 
 constructive side as well as its destructive side. If 
 
 26 
 
HELLENISM AND CHRISTIANITY 27 
 
 Alexander knew how to pull down, he also knew how 
 to build up. Hellenism implies the universal spread of 
 Greek culture, philosophy, ethics, language and religion. 
 
 In its policy of give and take, or compromise, 
 Hellenism absorbed much of the culture and religion of 
 the various peoples it conquered. "Wherever Alex- 
 ander went, he paid reverence to the local deities. The 
 gods of Greece followed him to Susa and Babylon, and 
 the teeming brood of the Nile Serapis, ISLS, Osiris and 
 the rest soon learned the Greek tongue and found a 
 home wherever Hellenism went." 1 
 
 This last aspect of Hellenism is admirably summed 
 up in the word " Toleration." Hellenism was able to 
 succeed whenever it understood how to be tolerant to 
 the religion of the people whom it vanquished. The 
 Romans also early learnt this lesson, and reaped the 
 reward which it invariably bestows. 
 
 One of the most striking features of Hellenism is 
 the worship of the King or Ruler, who is looked upon 
 as a Divine Being. He is regarded as an incarnation 
 of the God-head. Alexander the Great was the first 
 monarch who was worshipped by the Greeks. 2 In 
 later times this form of State religion flourished in all 
 the Hellenistic kingdoms, and passed on with the 
 march of Hellenism to Rome, where, from the time of 
 Augustus, divine honour was ascribed to the genius of 
 the Emperor. Most of the Emperors of the first 
 century C.E. did not dare to claim for themselves 
 
 1 Studia Biblica, iv. p 2. 
 2 Plutarch, Alexander, xxviii. 
 
28 HELLENISM AND CHRISTIANITY 
 
 in Rome the title of " God." Only after their death 
 were they elevated to full divinity, and then they 
 received the title "Divus." The Senate decreed on 
 whom this Apotheosis (or Consecration) was to be 
 bestowed, and reserved the right of withholding the 
 honour in exceptional cases ; this man-god cult is of 
 fundamental significance in the history of religions 
 in the Hellenistic age, ie., from 333 B.C.E. to about 
 the fourth century c.E. In Hellenistic circles this 
 idea of divine humanity was common and wide- 
 spread, not merely in the case of mythical characters, 
 but also in the case of historical personages of 
 distinction, such as the founders of cities and 
 colonies, rulers and teachers. Even before the rise 
 of Hellenism the Egyptian King had long been regarded 
 by his subjects as an incarnation of the Deity j 1 he was 
 addressed by the name of Horus, the mighty and 
 gracious God. Sacrifices were offered to the king, 
 prayers were addressed to him, and it was believed that 
 he himself answered the prayers or laid the petitions 
 before the Supreme Heavenly Deities, who were his 
 own ancestors. In fact, the Pharaohs actually offered 
 then- own prayers to themselves, or rather, to the Ka, 
 or Divine Genius incarnate within themselves. 2 
 
 In Babylonia and Assyria the kings were believed 
 originally to be the specially favoured servants of the 
 Gods. From the time of Sargon I, they held them- 
 selves to be emanations of the God-head. 3 Some kings 
 
 1 Frazer, Golden Bough., Part ii., p. 12, and see E. Meyer, 
 Geschichte des Altertums, i., 223, p. 267. 
 2 Hastings' D.B., v. pp. 187 ; 197. 
 3 See H. Radau, Early Babylonian History, pp. 307 ff. 
 
HELLENISM AND CHRISTIANITY 29 
 
 prefixed to their names the sign for God (in Sumerian it 
 was Dingir, in Babylonian, Ilu}. They built temples to 
 their own honour, set up their statues in the sanctuaries, 
 and allowed sacrifices to be offered to their Genius. 
 But the belief in the Divine descent and Divine nature 
 of kings was not generally widespread in the Orient 
 before the age of Alexander the Great. After he had 
 conquered the Persian and Egyptian Empires, he was 
 greeted as a Son of God by the priests of Zeus-Ammon 
 in the famous temple in the Egyptian oasis. 1 The 
 divine sonship attributed to Alexander was imitated 
 by the inheritors of his vast empire, especially in Syria, 
 Pergamimi, 2 and later, in Rome. In the East there 
 was no hesitation in worshipping, with public rites, the 
 living king as a god, or as an incarnation of the God- 
 head. Was it not natural that the poor peasants should 
 look upon the king as a god, because in times of 
 famine he provided food ; in times of pestilence he sent 
 relief to the victims ; and in times of invasion he led 
 the forces of the country to repel the invader ? Did not 
 the king administer justice, rewarding the good and 
 punishing the wicked ? Surely, these were godly acts, 
 and the king must therefore be a god, so, at least, 
 the people thought. It has been suggested that the 
 worship of Alexander as a god was due to Egyptian 
 influence, but this is most unlikely. The Egyptian king 
 was bound by a strange ritual that could never appeal 
 
 1 Plutarch, Alexander, xxvii. 2 Hastings' D. B. iii. p. 750. 
 
30 HELLENISM AND CHRISTIANITY 
 
 to a Greek, 1 and the fact that it was in the oasis temple 
 of Zeus-Ammon that Alexander was recognized as 
 divine, points rather to a Greek origin, because Ammon 
 was not a genuine Egyptian God, but an imported Greek 
 Deity. The priests declared that Alexander was the 
 son of Zeus, the God of the Greeks. Moreover, the 
 cult of Alexander was observed in Greek communities, 
 even before his visit to the temple of Zeus-Ammon. 
 The Greeks were undoubtedly the originators of this 
 Divine King Worship. In the eleven years that elapsed 
 from the crossings of the Hellespont until his death in 
 323 B.C., a great change had taken place in the attitude 
 of the Greeks towards him. His mighty victory over 
 the Persians and the freedom which this victory 
 brought to the important Greek communities in Asia 
 Minor led the grateful Greeks of these parts to see in 
 him their Saviour, their God. 
 
 Moreover, Alexander founded many new cities, 
 such as Priene, Alexandria, Magnesia, and so on. In 
 these cities Hellenism alone flourished, and in return he 
 was gladly acclaimed their Saviour-God. We read in 
 the inscriptions how the union of Ionian States conse- 
 crated to him a Grove (re/zevo?) where games were to 
 be celebrated annually. In the Holy Place in the Grove 
 there stood an altar dedicated to Alexander, where 
 sacrifices were offered. He was, in fact, the god of the 
 place. It was especially the Pan-Hellenist who was 
 filled with admiration for the youthful warrior who had, 
 
 a Cf. Diodorus Siculus, i. 70 for the daily life of the Egyptian 
 king. 
 
HELLENISM AND CHRISTIANITY 31 
 
 at last, effected the long desired overthrow of the 
 Persian dominion, the great foe to Pan-Hellenism. In 
 323 B.C.E., the year of Alexander's death, his cult had 
 spread so widely, even in Greek cities in Europe, that 
 embassies were sent from Greece to Babylon to partici- 
 pate in the religious festivals held in his honour. 1 As 
 King of Macedonia, Alexander would never have been 
 able to assume divine honours, but as ruler of the 
 world, he needed a sanction which divinity alone could 
 supply. He did not refuse these divine honours, 
 because they helped him to consolidate his empire. To 
 appreciate the motives which led the grateful Greeks to 
 deify their human redeemer, it is necessary to enquire 
 into the nature of the Greek religion. 
 
 This religion did not know a God who created the 
 world, man and all things. The Greek gods do not 
 therefore appeal to men in the same way as the God of 
 the Old Testament appeals to the Jew and Christian, 
 as the Creator to His Creation, the Father to His 
 children. The Greek deities are beings who were all 
 powerful ; but they have proceeded from the same 
 source as humanity, therefore the connections between 
 the gods and man are manifold. The Greek god is not 
 only born like a man, not only has he a birthday which 
 is celebrated as his annual festival, but he can have 
 intercourse with virgins or women of earth, and can 
 beget beautiful children, who are divine as well as 
 human, God-men. Moreover, the god had to die, 
 
 J Cf. Arrian, vii., 14, 10; vii, 15, i. ff and vii. 27, 3 for the 
 legend of Alexander's descent from a God. 
 
32 HELLENISM AND CHRISTIANITY 
 
 just like ordinary human beings. Hesiod believed that 
 the men of the first age became the just and beneficent 
 Demons, passing invisibly over the earth, dispensing 
 rewards, retributions and good fortune. 1 A man 
 after death might also become a god, and the Greeks 
 were fond of thinking that the strong and mighty heroes 
 of old became gods when their earthly careers were 
 finished. This religious interpretation of hero-worship 
 led the powerful families in Greek lands to claim des- 
 cent from the Gods or Heroes, hence the kings naturally, 
 would claim divine descent 2 The cult of heroes did 
 much to popularize these ideas. It sometimes happened 
 tha a man became a hero ; then he was worshipped as 
 such, and later he was elevated to Olympus as a god, 
 in whose honour sacrifices were brought. Now the 
 founders of towns or of colonies were rewarded in- 
 variably by the bestowal of the rights associated with 
 hero-worship. These cults were of course, strictly local. 
 Such customs are known to have obtained in Greece, 
 as early as the seventh century B.C.E. 
 
 In Athens, the victors of the Battle of Marathon 
 were accounted heroes, and were accorded the full 
 worship belonging to the hero-cult. 3 The sanctuary 
 devoted to the hero was generally situated in the 
 market place. After the Pelopounesian War, not only 
 were these honours bestowed on the brave dead, but also 
 on the living benefactors to the State. At Delphi a 
 
 1 Works and Days, 121 f. This passage is generally held 
 to be the locus classicus on the early Greek notions of 
 
 -See Frazer, The Magic Art, ii. p. 177 f. 
 3 Pausanias, i. xxxii. 4, and see Farnell, Higher Aspects of 
 Creek Religion, p. 82. 
 
HELLENISM AND CHRISTIANITY 33 
 
 statue in honour of Lysander of Sparta was erected in 
 the sanctuary because he had defeated the Athenians. 1 
 The placing of a statue of a human being in a sanctuary 
 meant more to the Greek than we are likely to suppose. 
 The sanctuary was the abode of the gods, and the placing 
 therein of the statue of a human being implied that the 
 latter was henceforth associated with the gods, and 
 worthy of being accounted a divine being. The step 
 to full divinity was not far off. Lysander was not only 
 worshipped at Delphi, but at many other places in Asia 
 Minor. Altars were erected in his honour, and a special 
 festival, the Lysandria, was instituted to perpetuate his 
 cult. 
 
 In 353 B.C.E. the ruler of Heraclea declared that 
 he was a son of Zeus, and demanded the honours and 
 worship of a " Son of God." Dionysius of Syracuse, 
 about the same time, was revered as a son of Apollo. 
 Such divine honours were not only bestowed by the 
 Greeks on their rulers, but disciples treated their teach- 
 ers in the same way. In the fifth century B.C.E. the 
 Sicilian, Empedocles, was worshipped as a god by his 
 fellow-citizens. 2 It was said of Pythagoras that his 
 venerable appearance was as stimulating as if Apollo 
 had been in the midst of his disciples. He was spoken 
 of as a son of this god. 3 There was a good reason for 
 
 1 Plutarch, Lysander, xviii., writes :-[Lysander] "was the first 
 of the Greeks... to whom altars were erected by several cities, 
 and sacrifices offered, as to a god." 
 
 2 Diogenes Laertius, Vit. Phil. viii. 70, quoted by Frazer, G.B., 
 ii.,p. 39'>. 
 
 3 According to Diogenes Laertius, ibid., viii. 4. Pythagoras 
 claimed to be a son of Mercury. D 
 
34 HELLENISM AND CHRISTIANITY 
 
 this cult in the Greek Schools, which were, to all 
 intents and purposes, the religious centres of the 
 cultured people. 
 
 Plato erected a temple of the Muses in the Grove 
 of the Academy. His successor had statues of the 
 Muses placed in the temple, and later on, one of Plato 
 himself was added. This was due to the fact that Plato 
 was regarded as the founder of the Academy, and as 
 such, he was revered as the hero of the institution, and 
 his statue became the centre of a pious cult. Every 
 year, on Apollo's birthday, Plato's birthday was also 
 celebrated. His nephew declared that the philosopher 
 was the son of Apollo. 1 This was not an isolated case. 
 The origin of this phenomenon is to be sought in the 
 idea cherished by the Greeks, that a genuinely good and 
 great man must be possessed of a divine spirit. More- 
 over, the Greeks believed that every man was composed 
 of elements human and divine. 2 The Greek discerned 
 the divinity in such great and good men as readily as 
 he saw it in the beauties of Nature. The worship or 
 cult of Jesus as Son of God, or as part of the God-head, 
 offers an interesting analogy to this feature of Hellenism. 
 We must remember that the belief in the natural descent 
 from a Divine Father, as well as the custom of paying 
 <livine honours to the living and dead heroes, kings or 
 teachers, have their origin in the religious spirit of the 
 Greeks. Originally the Greek people were disposed to 
 recognize the divinity of a dead ruler only, but in course 
 
 1 Diogenes Laertius, ibid., iii. 1. 
 2 Adam, Vitality of Platonism, pp. 133 ff. 
 
HELLENISM AND CHRISTIANITY 35 
 
 of time the living ruler was also deified. The Alexander 
 cult'was the original form for all kinds of king-worship in 
 Hellenistic circles. 1 The difference between the original 
 and the copies lies in the development from the 
 voluntary worship of the ruler to the State institution 
 which makes the cult obligatory. 
 
 Ptolemy I (308 B.C.E.), who succeeded Alexander 
 as ruler of Egypt, was accorded divine honours in his 
 city of Ptolemais, which he founded. In 307 B.C.E. 
 the Athenians declared Demetrius Poliorcetes and his 
 father Antigonus, to be Saviour-Gods (Soteres), because 
 the former had secured the freedom of Athens from 
 Macedonian supremacy. 2 An altar was erected in their 
 honour, and a special priest was appointed to attend to 
 their sacrifices. 
 
 The cult of hero, king, or teacher in whom the 
 divinity was believed to dwell is entirely alien to 
 Hebraic thought and sentiment. To believe that a man 
 could become a God or a Son of God, or -that a God 
 could become a man was an impossible task for the 
 Jewish mind. Man is separated from God by an im- 
 passable gulf. If then, in a cult connected with 
 Judaism, we find that divine honours are paid to a 
 human being, we can be quite sure that this worship of 
 a " man-God " is an imported element, which arose in a 
 Greek culture circle. It is only in Hellenism where we 
 find this form of worship. It is the basis of Mythology 
 
 1 See Paulys-Wissowa, Encyclopddie, 1423, 1433. 
 2 Frazer, The Magic Art, i. p. 390 f., and Plutarch, Demet- 
 rius, 10-13, cf. Plutarch, I sis et Osiris, 24. 
 
36 HELLENISM AND CHRISTIANITY 
 
 which is entirely opposed to the Judaism of the prophets. 1 
 The Jews readily recognized the spiritual greatness of 
 their prophets, poets, philosophers and teachers ; and 
 they lovingly remembered the unselfish services rendered 
 to their country or people, but they did not worship the 
 good men. The Maccabean triumph has its annual 
 celebration, but the Maccabees are not deified. The 
 great men, Abraham, Moses, Isaiah, are not forgotten, 
 but they are not worshipped. To consider them divine 
 would be contrary to Jewish sentiment. They were men 
 and not angels, prophets and not gods, but merely the 
 servants of the One God. They were born as other men, 
 without Incarnation, or Virgin-birth. When they died 
 there was no Apotheosis. The basic ideas underlying 
 the Hellenistic worship of the great and good, con- 
 tinued for many centuries to exercise an ever-increasing 
 influence in the history of religion. These ideas have 
 survived to our own day, and unfortunately they seem 
 likely to obtain for many a day to come. 
 
 In the Greek world there were various grades or 
 religion. There was the religion of the philosophers, 
 tending in some schools of thought towards belief in a 
 supreme God. Then there was the religion of the 
 poets and artists, which found expression in theasthetic 
 worship of an assembly of deities, such as Zeus, Apollo, 
 Venus, etc. 2 These deities were held to be the per- 
 sonified forces of Nature. The Homeric gods and 
 
 1 See Hermann Cohen's Religion und Sittlichkeit, vnjarhbuch 
 fiirjiid. Gesch. u. Lit. (1907), pp. 125, 134, 136 and 140. 
 
 -Cf. Professor Percy Gardner's Growth of Christianity, p. 89. 
 
HELLENISM AND CHRISTIANITY 37 
 
 goddesses had been allegorized in this wise by Euhe- 
 merus and his school. Finally, there was the popular 
 religion of the people. This was a materialistic and 
 superstitious worship, believing in malignant gods, 
 demons, devils, also in men-gods and god-men. Then 
 the people also believed in spells, omens, faith-cures. 
 There was also the celebration of the Mysteries in which 
 abominable rites were practised. 
 
 The Greeks took their gods with them wherever 
 they went. The cults which best survived in Asia Minor 
 were those which were akin to the Oriental heathen 
 religions. For at least a century before the birth of 
 Christianity, Paganism among the Greeks was really 
 worn out. It was powerless to resist the competition 
 offered by the Oriental creeds of Isis, Mithras, Adonis, 
 and Sabazius. The Greek gods were dead and were easily 
 replaced by the new-comers. Later, when Christian- 
 ity arose, it was no longer Greek Heathenism that had 
 to be overcome, but Oriental Mysticism tinged by Hel- 
 lenism. It is an undoubted fact that Christianity 
 borrowed largely from the various local cults of Greece 
 and Asia Minor. The Saint venerated by the Church 
 was very often a local heathen deity. 1 Christmas Day 
 was originally the birthday of the Sun-God. Again, 
 as we shall see, the Sacraments of the Christian Church, 
 such as Baptism and Holy Communion, have their 
 origin in the worship of the heathen cults of Hellenism. 2 
 
 European civilization of to-day is connected with 
 
 a See Farnell, The Evolution of Religion, p. 76. 
 
 2 Cf. Trede, Das Heidentum in der romischen Kirche, \. p. 15. 
 
38 HELLENISM AND CHRISTIANITY 
 
 Hellenism through two channels : (a) through the hel- 
 lenization of the Roman Empire, and (b) through the 
 hellenization of Christianity. 1 The former process began 
 to take place soon after the Second Punic war. Then 
 the Romans came into contact with the Greeks in the 
 East, with the result that Hellenism soon found a safe 
 home in Rome. When Christianity in the first century 
 (C.E.) began to grow into a world-power, its field of 
 development coincided with the world of Hellenism. 
 Hence the important fact that the language of Hellenism 
 the Koine" became also the language of the Early 
 Church. To return to the process whereby the Roman 
 world was hellenized ; we must remember that the 
 Romans had an early legend telling tJiem that Rome 
 had been founded by Greek Trojans, so that the Romans 
 claimed to be descendants of Aeneas. It did not take 
 very long before the Romans borrowed the Hellenistic 
 rite of the apotheosis of living men, and thereby we 
 are a step nearer to the cult of the leader or ruler. This 
 first took place in the Macedonian War. Philip V. of 
 Macedonia was defeated by the Roman, T. Quinctius 
 Flaminius, who in the name of the Roman Senate pro- 
 claimed the freedom of the Greek City States at the 
 Isthmian and Olympian Games in 196 B.C.E. The 
 people greeted him as their saviour and redeemer, and 
 the city of Chalkis in Eubcea decreed that divine hon- 
 ours should be paid to him. 2 
 
 1 For this analysis, as well as for much else in this book, I 
 am indebted to Professor Adolph Bauer's Vom Griechentum zunt 
 Christentum, pp. 74 ff. 
 
 2 Cf. Plutarch, Titos, xvi. 
 
HELLEXISM AND CHRISTIANITY 39 
 
 In the first century B.C.E. it was the custom of 
 the Greek cities to proclaim the Roman Chief Magis- 
 trates as gods, and to institute games in their honour, 
 even the Senate was declared to be divine. When men 
 like Sulla, Pompey and Caesar became sole leaders, the 
 process developed rapidly. The whole of the Greek 
 East was at their mercy, and the fear and reverence 
 inspired by their power increased in proportion. At 
 Athens Sulla was greeted as a god. Pompey was 
 described as a saviour, and Caesar claimed to be a direct 
 descendant of Aeneas, through the family of Julus to 
 which he belonged. 1 In an inscription found at Ephesus 
 he is described as the " incarnated God, Son of Ares and 
 descendant of Aprodite." 2 The Roman Senate had a 
 statue erected for the " half-divine " Caesar. It was set 
 up in the Temple of Jupiter opposite the statue of the 
 god. After his victory at Munda he was called the 
 "invincible god." His death at the hands of Brutus 
 and Cassius was due to the fear that he would not only 
 allow divine honours to be paid to him, but that he in- 
 tended to become king. After his death additional 
 honours, affirming his full divinity, were paid to his 
 memory. On the spot where his body was burned a 
 temple was erected. 
 
 In 41 B.C.E. Antony entered the city of Ephesus 
 as Dionysus. 3 The victory of Actium (31 B.C.E.) brought 
 
 1 For authorities see Roscher, Lexikon, art Kaiserkultus, 
 903 f. 
 
 2 Deissmann, Licht vom Osten (3rd. ed.) p. 258 for inscription 
 in Greek. 
 
 a See Plutarch, Antony, xxiv., who also compares the meeting 
 between Cleopatra and Antony wilh a meeting between Venus 
 and Dionysus (ibid. xxvi.). 
 
40 HELLENISM AND CHRISTIANITY 
 
 peace to the Hellenistic world. This gift of Augustus 
 was welcomed as a gospel (evangel). He also was 
 looked upon as a saviour god. Soon after the marriage 
 of his mother Atia, rumour said that she had been at 
 night in the temple of Apollo on the occasion of the 
 god's festival. The god, in the form of a serpent, came 
 to the woman while she slept, and in the course of a 
 year Augustus was born. He was therefore called 
 "the son of Apollo." 1 Legend said that a few months 
 before his birth, a sign had been given in Rome that 
 Nature was about to present a king to the Romans. 
 To prevent this, the Senate decreed that any child boni 
 that year should not be nurtured. This cruel edict was 
 naturally evaded, and Augustus was born and fed as 
 was becoming. This legend reminds us of the attempt 
 of Herod to destroy the supposed Messiah, and resulted 
 in the tale of the slaughter of the Babes of Bethlehem. 
 
 In the Greek Orient Augustus allowed divine 
 honours to be shown to him. He was spoken of as 
 God and the Son of God. In a Greek inscription from 
 Egypt he is actuaUy called " God of God." 2 His birth- 
 day is spoken of as the "birthday of the God." Two 
 inscriptions clearly show us that the divine worship of 
 Augustus involved the use of expressions similar to 
 those which appear in the Gospels. One inscription from 
 Halicarnassus speaks in this wise : " Since the Eternal 
 and Immortal Power which generated the Universe has 
 
 1 Suetonius, Divus Augustus, 94 ; Dio Cassius, xlv. 1, 2. 
 2 Deissmann, op. tit. pp. 279, 288 f. and Roscher, ibid-, 
 904 ff. 
 
HELLENISM AND CHRISTIANITY 41 
 
 bestowed on humanity as its highest good in these our 
 happy days, Csesar Augustus, the father of his native 
 town, the divine Roma, even Father Zeus and the 
 Saviour of the entire human race, for the sake of 
 which Providence has not only heard all prayers 
 but granted more than was asked for for peace is on 
 earth and on the sea; the towns flourish under the 
 excellent laws in peace and harmony, all that is good is 
 active and produces rich fruit, and the future is full of 
 good hopes. All men rejoice in the prosperity of the 
 present time." 1 In the next inscription, which is dated 
 9 B.C.E., and comes from Asia Minor, we read that the 
 birthday of Augustus was to be observed in future as 
 New Year's Day. 2 It declares that Providence, which 
 rules all things in our lives, is to be thanked for sending 
 Augustus. " He has been sent to us and to all who 
 come after us as a Saviour. He has terminated wars, 
 set all things in order, . . . .and has surpassed all previous 
 benefactors. The birthday of the God was the dawn of a 
 gospel (evangel} for the world." Just- as in Luke 
 (ii. 10) we find the birth of Jesus as a Saviour described 
 as good tidings or Gospel, so in the inscription of the 
 God Augustus we have the identical terms. 3 
 
 Kyrios (Lord), so often used as a title of Jesus, was 
 a common cult-word of Hellenism, and was also used as 
 a term to express the divine nature of the emperor. 4 
 
 a See Pfleiderer, Early Christian Conception of Christ,^. 149, 
 and Jeremias, Babylonisches im N. T., p. 58. 
 
 2 Deissmann, op. cit. pp. 259, 279, and cf. the version in 
 Soltau, Birth of Jesus Christ, E. T., p. 71. 
 
 3 Cf. for similar inscriptions, Deissmann, op. cit.) p. 277. 
 
 *See Roscher, s.v. Kyrios, 1764. 
 
42 HELLENISM AND CHRISTIANITY 
 
 Originally, Jesus was not looked upon as a Kyrios, 
 Lord, or God ; but when Christianity had to fight for 
 her place among the Greek religions, it adopted such 
 terms as " Kyrios" " Soter" or " Son of God" in order 
 to justify the claim that the cult of Jesus was a 
 religion worthy of acceptance by educated Greeks. 
 Without the apotheosis of Jesus, Christianity would 
 never have made headway in Greek lands. Deissmann 
 has taught us that it was not the moral teaching of the 
 man Jesus that conquered the Hellenistic world, but it 
 was rather the cult of the God Jesus that gained such 
 widespread acceptance and popularity. 
 
 In Hellenism metaphysical speculations meant 
 that which science means to us to-day. A number of 
 technical words which regulate and shorten the process 
 of thinking had made their way into the Hellenistic 
 schools. Such words as Logos, Pneuma, Emanation and 
 Hypostasis were in general use. Hellenism in course of 
 time aifected also the Jews of the Diaspora, as well as 
 the Jews of Palestine. The city of Alexandria, founded 
 by Alexander the Great, became the headquarters of 
 the Hellenistic Jews. Here and elsewhere the Jews 
 spoke Greek, and translated their Scriptures into this 
 language. Not only did the Jew speak like a Greek, 
 but he also thought like a Greek. Even in Palestine 
 itself there were Hellenistic Jews who prayed in Greek. 1 
 The European Jew of to-day has paid tribute to Hel- 
 lenism. He speaks of the " Synagogue," which was an 
 ordinary Greek word meaning a religious meeting. 
 
 1 Acts vi. 9 and T. J. Sota vii. 1, 21b. 
 
HELLENISM AND CHRISTIANITY 43 
 
 Some of the names of the books of the Bible are also 
 Greek, such as Genesis and Exodus. The term Bible 
 itself is a good illustration. The words Liturgy and Apostle 
 illustrate how every-day speech has been influenced 
 by the Greek language. Such words as epiphany, 
 mystery, parousia, paraclete, evangel and so forth 
 have all come to us from the Koine", or colloquial 
 language of Hellenism. 1 The Greeks had allegorized 
 Homer, and the Jews followed suit by allegorizing the 
 Bible. There is hardly a page of the Talmud or 
 Midrash which does not contain some word of Greek. 2 
 Palestine was not influenced to the same extent as 
 the Diaspora, where the Jews were freed from the 
 national and traditional bonds which bound the 
 Palestinian Jew. The result was that Hellenistic 
 Judaism became more Greek and less Jewish. Hence 
 the rise of the apochryphal and pseud-epigraphic liter- 
 ature which was mostly written or preserved in Greek. 
 We shall return to the consideration of the Hellenistic 
 Jewish literature such as the LXX, the Greek Book of 
 Wisdom, and Philo. In the doctrine of God which 
 Philo elaborates in his commentaries on the Old Testa- 
 ment, he lays great stress on the transcendental nature 
 of the Deity, and ignores the Old Testament conception 
 of God's ceaseless activity ill this world. The Old 
 Testament conception of God is really absent from 
 Philo's philosophy, 3 for his God is to all intents and 
 
 1 Deissmann, op. cit. 281 ff. (and see Index). 
 -The Greek words in Rabbinical literature have been dis- 
 cussed by Krauss in his " Lehmv drier." 
 3 Siegfried, Philo, p. 159. 
 
44 HELLENISM AND CHRISTIANITY 
 
 purposes the 0eo? of Plato. Philo is able to set aside 
 the Biblical description of God by means of his system 
 of allegory. His transcendental Deity precludes the 
 idea of a Divine Creation, as well as of a Divine Pro- 
 vidence. Such teaching entirely separates God from 
 man and the world, and deprives morality of its best 
 religious sanction, which tells us that man must imitate 
 God by walking with Him and ever seeking Him, Philo 
 falls back on the Stoic doctrine of the Immanence of 
 God, inasmuch as he says that the existence of all tilings 
 is summed up in God, who is the place of the world. 1 
 God is also identified by Philo with the " Efficient 
 Cause " of the Stoics, so that He is the Architect of the 
 Universe, but not the Creator who actually fashions it. 
 Hence the need of a creative cosmic force the Logos, 2 
 who is the mediator between God and man. 3 
 
 This idea of a creating Logos, who is also the 
 mediator between God and the world, is un-Jewish, and 
 has arisen on Hellenistic soil. We find in Philo 
 many other influences of Hellenism, such as the idea 
 of God's begetting by a human mother, or God's 
 begetting by a virgin ; or again, distinctions in the 
 God-head, or the idea that the Logos is the Son of 
 God and even a second God. 4 Philo's Logos involves 
 the following ideas : a God-Man, a Son of God who is 
 the Creator, a mediating representative of the race, a 
 sinless High Priest, a first Adam contrasted with the 
 
 Somn. I. II., ML, 630 ; C.W., iii. p. 203. 63. 
 2 De Cherub. 35, Mi., 161 ; C.W., i. p. 197. 125. 
 s Quts rer. div. h., 42 Mi. 501 ; C.W. iii. p. 39. 205. 
 *<De Somn. I. 39 and 41. Mi. 655-6., C. W. ii. p. 235ff. 229ff. 
 
HELLENISM AND CHRISTIANITY 45 
 
 second Adam. In other words, we have practically the 
 entire Christology of the New Testament foreshadowed 
 by Philo's Logos. We shall deal with this subject in 
 detail in the course of our investigation. It will not 
 therefore surprise us to find that the famous Church 
 historian, Eusebius, speaks of Philo as the earliest of the 
 Christian Fathers. Philo was read and studied by the 
 great writers of the Early Church, and in many instances 
 (e.g. Eusebius and Ambrose) we find large sections of 
 his teaching reproduced by Christian authors. 1 
 
 From the start the supreme interest of Christianity 
 was the nature of the person of Jesus, and his relation 
 to God. This question could not be discussed in any 
 city where Hellenism obtained without the use of Greek 
 terminology. The most fascinating word of the day 
 was Logos. 2 As we have just noted, Philo gave it a 
 new interpretation by speaking of it as a Son of God, 
 and a Mediator between God and the world. The 
 history of the Logos was venerable, and its associations 
 with the Stoics and other schools of philosophy had 
 made it a popular term. Just as we breathe the 
 atmosphere of the place where we live, so likewise we 
 absorb the floating ideas, beliefs and terminology of the 
 age and people in whose midst we move and have our 
 being. Such assimilation is naturally unconscious. 
 
 With John and the author of the Epistle to the 
 Hebrews, as well as with the Christian Apologists of the 
 Early Church, the Logos plays an all-important part. 
 
 1 The best account of Philo's influence on Christianity is in 
 Pfleiderer, Primitive Christianity, E. T. iii. 2, and Siegfried, 
 op. cit. pp. 303 ff. 
 
 -See Adam, op. cit. pp. 152 ; 154 f.; 164 f. 
 
46 HELLENISM AND CHRISTIANITY 
 
 It is the organ of creation, and of all revelation, which 
 is incorporated as the Christ, bringing to men a new 
 philosophy or revelation which contains the answer to 
 the questions raised by doubt and speculation. Small 
 indeed, is the interest which the apologists take in the 
 human life of Jesus. What they care for is a Logos 
 philosophy, and in some of these apologists the name of 
 Jesus scarcely ever occurs. Paul likewise cares little or 
 nothing for the human life of his Christ whose Divine 
 nature is of paramount interest to him and to the 
 writer of the Epistle to the Hebrews. 
 
 If Christianity had to conduct a propaganda 
 among the Greeks, it was necessary to employ Greek 
 terminology. With the language went thought, 
 belief, philosophy and theology. The Christian Church, 
 which Paul created, was a compromise between the 
 Jewish Messianic belief and hope of the first century, 
 and the world-culture of Hellenism. This fusion made 
 Christianity a world religion. Hellenism conquered 
 not only Rome, but also Christianity, the victor of 
 Rome. 
 
 Jesus lived in Judea and Galilee. He spoke Aramaic 
 and breathed a Jewish atmosphere, but the evangelists 
 wrote in Greek and breathed the Hellenistic atmos- 
 phere. Whatever we know of Jesus lies before us in the 
 form in which the Greek writers conceived and under- 
 stood the traditions of one, alien in nationality and 
 language, who was said to have been the founder of the 
 cult which they were defending and advocating. It is 
 through this Hellenization that Christianity passed from 
 
HELLENISM AND CHRISTIANITY 47 
 
 Palestine to the world. The accuracy of the tradition 
 must have suffered considerably by this transplantation. 
 It had, as it were, to take root in a new soil with a new 
 environment. Much that was old and genuine may 
 have been preserved, but much more that was new and > 
 not genuine was added. The background changed from 
 the Jewish to the Hellenistic. Hence the many con- 
 tradictious in the Gospels. To the Hebrew disciples, 
 Jesus the Jew was only a man, but to the Greek 
 evangelists he became a Son of God, a Lord, a Mediator, 
 a Logos, a High Priest, and eventually God. In the 
 Gospels the compromise between Judaism and Hellenism 
 resulted in the belief in the God-man. Almost the 
 same compromise is to be seen in Philo, who allegorized 
 the Biblical records so that the characters of Scripture 
 become symbols of virtues or vices. Cain signifies sin j 1 
 Abraham symbolizes faith. Very little of the real 
 liistorical personality remains, and in his doctrine of the 
 Logos we have the semi-divine link uniting the Greek 
 and Hebrew Schools of thought. 2 
 
 There are two elements in the Gospel. They may 
 be called : (1) the Jewish element, belonging to the 
 genuine part, and (2) the Hellenistic element, which is 
 later, and contradictory to the Jewish part. This is 
 due to the fundamental difference between Hellenistic 
 and Jewish ideas and beliefs. The Jewish element such 
 as the Sermon on the Mount, has many parallels in 
 
 Cherub. 20, Mi. 151., C. W. i. 183 65- 
 -Siegfried, op- cit. p. 307 ; and Schlatter, Der Glaube imN. T. 
 p. 75, give references to Philo in connection with this point. 
 

 48 HELLENISM AND CHRISTIANITY 
 
 Jewish literature, whilst the Hellenistic part has many 
 analogies in Hellenism. We shall find in the Gospels 
 narratives or legends which can only be explained if we 
 assume that they arose in heathen Christian circles far 
 removed from the original Jewish-Christian centres. 
 The heathen Christians were accustomed to Hellenism, 
 and they are mainly responsible for the Hellenism in 
 the New Testament. It it not suggested that there 
 was a conscious adaptation of Hellenistic legends to 
 the person of Jesus. It was a natural process which 
 was quite unintentional. Jesus was hellenized, and in 
 consequence he was deified. We have already seen 
 how the Greeks deified the great and good men in their 
 midst, and Jesus as the founder of a new religion, 
 as well as the Messianic King, was quite naturally 
 believed to be the Son of God or a God. We have 
 said that it was impossible for a Palestinian Jew to have 
 spoken of Jesus, or anybody else, as a " God " or " Son 
 of God." This seems also to have been felt by the 
 evangelist Mark (xv. 39), who places the expression 
 " Son of God," as referring to Jesus, in the mouth of 
 the centurion, a Roman heathen. We shall do well to 
 note that Paul and Barnabas were taken to be gods by 
 the heathens to whom they preached. 1 
 
 The accusation that Jesus claimed to be the Son 
 of God is represented by the Greek evangelists as the 
 ground of his condemnation by the Jewish High Priests ; 
 
 1 Acts xiv. 11, 12 : The multitude said : "The gods are come 
 down to us in the likeness of men. And they called Barnabas, 
 Jupiter ; and Paul, Mercury? 
 
HELLENISM AND CHRISTIANITY 49 
 
 but this is rather unlikely to have been the historical 
 fact, because he was put to death by Pilate for claiming 
 to be the king of the Jews. 
 
 Neither Mark nor Luke were eye-witnesses of the 
 events they narrate ; the same remark, of course, applies 
 to Matthew and John 1 who never knew Jesus, and never 
 knew the surroundings in which he lived. Matthew 
 and John are described as having been the disciples of 
 Jesus. If they were, they certainly did not write the 
 Gospels bearing their name. 2 Mark was believed to 
 have been the interpreter of Peter, one of the original 
 disciples. Luke is said to have been not only the author 
 of the Third Gospel, but also of the Acts of the Apostles. 
 This is hardly likely to have been the case. We can be 
 almost sure that the Greek physician, Luke, who accom- 
 panied Paul on his travels, was not the author of the Book 
 of Acts nor of the Third Gospel. 3 The tradition that 
 he was their author belongs to the middle of the second 
 century, and is not by any means trustworthy. What 
 we do know is that Luke, or whoever wrote the Third 
 Gospel, made use of Josephus whose writings were 
 issued about 97 c.E. 4 
 
 Books written in the second or third generation 
 after the death of the founder of a religion represent 
 the actual conditions obtaining when the writer lived, 
 and not when the founder lived. The tradition has 
 
 Enc. Bib. 2542. 
 -Ibid. 2553; and Harnack, Wcsen des Christentums, p. 13. 
 8 See Enc. Bib. 44 ; 915 f; 2831. 
 
 *See Max Krenkel, Josephus und Lucas; Enc. Bib. 5055; and 
 1893, and my Jewish Sources of the Sermon on the Mount, pp. 
 xx, 27 and 202. 
 
 E 
 
50 HELLENISM AND CHRISTIANITY 
 
 grown meanwhile. It is possible that genuine historical 
 elements have been combined with new material, but if 
 the writer has not modified the original elements at all, 
 there will generally be more new material which out- 
 weighs the genuine portion. If we find contradictory 
 passages in such records, we can be sure that we have 
 older and younger strata in the composition. We shall 
 see that this is the case with the Gospels, especially in 
 the birth narratives, which prove conclusively that we 
 have a combination of earlier and later traditions. The 
 miracles of the Gospels and the Christology of the New 
 Testament by their contradictions illustrate this point. 
 The Christ of John is not the Jesus of Mark, nor again 
 is the Lord of Paul the Jesus who works miracles such 
 as are described by Matthew. It is not true to say that 
 these different Christs represent different aspects of one 
 personality judged from different standpoints. What 
 we have are really different strata in the tradition. The 
 lower the strata, or in other words, the more simple the 
 stories, the more genuine are they likely to be ; whereas 
 the later additions are accretions due to the time and 
 place of the writer, who is a child of his age. The age 
 of the writers of the New Testament was Hellenism, 
 and therefore we find traces of Hellenism hi their books. 
 
 On sarcophagi in Asia Minor, Jesus is represented 
 as an orator, or as Apollo. Art expresses the ideas of 
 the legends which are preserved in the records of the 
 religious community. To the converted Greek, Jesus 
 was not likely to be a Rabbi, but rather Apollo or some 
 other god. The Greek-Christian evangelists apply to 
 
HELLENISM AND CHRISTIANITY 51 
 
 Jesus characteristics which really belong to the dis- 
 carded heathen gods. In this process of adaptation, 
 the belief of the converts in the Deity of Jesus formed 
 the fundamental dogma of the Early Church. In con- 
 sequence of such belief in the Deity of Jesus the 
 narrative of the Virgin Birth arose. 
 
 Christianity believed that it had converted heathen 
 Hellenism ; in truth, it was conquered by the Greeks, 
 and the hellenized councils of the Church formulated 
 the creeds of Christianity. The worship of a God-man 
 is the result of Hellenism, and it has no parallel in the 
 Old Testament or in Rabbinic literature. Let us try 
 to show that originally, in its earliest form, the tra- 
 ditions about the birth of Jesus did not include the 
 narrative of his divine Sonship. 1 When Jesus was 
 twelve years old he was lost. When he was found in 
 the Temple his mother said to him : " Son, why hast 
 thou thus dealt with us ? Behold, thy father and I 
 sought thee sorrowing. And he said unto them : 
 How is it that ye sought me ? Did ye not know that 
 I must be in my Father's House ? 2 And they under- 
 stood not the saying which he spake unto them " (Luk e 
 ii. 48-50). 
 
 This narrative clearly shows us that Luke's tra- 
 dition, to the effect that Jesus was the son of the 
 Virgin and of God, was not in harmony with the story 
 
 1 For the latest critical results as to the Birth Narratives, see 
 Clemen, Religionsgeschichtliche Erkldrung des N. T., pp. 223 ff, 
 see also U setter's article in Enc. Bib. s. v. Nativity ; cf. also 
 Soltau, op. cit. 
 
 - See R. V. Margin for alternate versions. 
 
52 HELLENISM AND CHRISTIANITY 
 
 just told. Not to understand the meaning of his being 
 in his " Father's House " would have been quite 
 impossible if his mother knew of the virgin birth. Mark 
 also lets us hear of his mother thinking him beside 
 himself (iii. 33). This would be unnatural if she 
 had known that he was the Messiah and also the 
 Son of God, whose ways would naturally be unlike 
 those of other people. 
 
 Luke (ii. 4) makes Bethlehem the birthplace of 
 Jesus, because he is to be the Messiah, and this is where 
 the Messiah was to be born (cf. Micah v. 2) ; but this 
 is contrary to fact, because Jesus was born at Nazareth 
 in Galilee (see John vii. 41). He was not a direct 
 descendant of David, and therefore he was not the 
 Messiah according to the Hebrew Scriptures. 
 
 Originally, in Matthew (i. 16) and Luke (iii. 23) 
 Joseph was the recognized father of Jesus. The Syriac 
 Gospels (Sinaitic text) preserve this original reading. 1 
 The verses in Luke (i. 34 and 35) that speak of a 
 virgin birth are an interpolation which arose in Hel- 
 lenistic circles. The text in Luke (ii. 5) about Joseph, 
 who went "to enrol himself with Mary who was betrothed 
 to him and was with child," ran originally: "Joseph 
 went with Mary his wife," but later MSS. read: " Mary 
 his betrothed wife," thereby combining both traditions. 
 Luke's chronology is quite inexplicable. 2 He puts the 
 birth of Jesus (1) in the year of the death of Herod, 
 4 B.C.E. ; (2) at the time of the census of Quirinius, 
 
 1 See A. Pott, Der Text des N. T., p. 87 f. 
 
 -See U seller's article, Nativity ', in Enc. Bibl. iii., 3345, 10. 
 
HELLENISM AND CHRISTIANITY 53 
 
 6 or 7 C.E., which took place after the death of Herod 
 and his son Archelaus, who died in the year 6 c.E. A 
 further contradiction in Luke (iii. 1 and 23) is found 
 in the statement that Jesus was thirty years old in the 
 fifteenth year of Tiberius (i.e. 28 or 29 C.E.). In other 
 words, Jesus was born, according to Luke, in the year 
 1 or 2 B.C.E. We cannot, however, say at all when 
 Jesus was born or died ; the Gospels have no definite 
 record of these dates. 1 In the middle of the second 
 century Marcion, who was a zealous advocate of the 
 divinity of Jesus, had a Gospel text similar to Luke's, 
 but without the birth narratives or the Jordan baptism 
 story. 2 He rejected all the other Gospels as untrust- 
 worthy. 
 
 The adoption of the best teaching of Judaism made 
 Christianity an ethical religion. The absorption of 
 Greek philosophy adapted it to the educated Greek, 
 whilst the inclusion of beliefs and rites borrowed from 
 the Mystery religions of Hellenism made Christianity 
 acceptable to the lower classes of the heathens. 3 We 
 shall, in our next chapter, proceed to consider in detail 
 how Jewish Hellenism has affected the New Testament 
 and some of its doctrines. 
 
 1 See Hastings' D.B. i. 403 ff. The Nativity is placed in 
 7-6 B.C.E. by this Dictionary (p. 415). 
 
 -Paul knows nothing of the Virgin Birth. 
 
 8 See Frazer, Adonis, Attis, Osiris, pp. 254 ff. and P. Gardner's 
 The Religious Experiences of S, Paul, Chs. iv and v. 
 
54 HELLENISM AND CHRISTIANITY 
 
 LITERATURE. 
 
 See generally Schiirer, HJ.P. (Index, Hellenism, Greek 
 influences.). 
 
 Greek Religion, see Dr. Farnell's Hibbert Lectures, 1912. 
 
 Hellenism, see s.v. in Enc. Bib. ; andy. E. 
 
 Grecians and Greece in Hastings' D.B. 
 
 On Hero-Cult see Roscher, s.v. Heros. 
 
 On Emperor-cult Kaiserkulttts. 
 
 On Nativity see Jeremias, Babylonisches imN-T. pp. 48 ff. 
 
 On Alexander Worship, see Paulys-Wissowa, Encyclopedic, 
 1423 and 1433. 
 
 On Julius Ccesar Worship, see Domaszewski, Abhandlungen 
 zur roniischen Religion pp. 193 ff. 
 
 Invaluable are the following: Deissmann's Lichtvom Osten; 
 Wendland, Die Hellenistisch-romische Kultur in ihren Bezie- 
 hungen zu Judentum und Christentum, 1907 ; Pfleiderer, 
 Urchristentum ; Heinrici, Hellenismus und Christ entum, 1909 
 and Das Urchristentum ; Clemen, Religionsgeschichtliche 
 Erkldrungen des N. T., 1909. 
 
 The writings of Anrich, Dibelius, Everling, Hatch, Heit- 
 miiller, Usener, Polenz, Weinrich, Windisch, Wobbermin, 
 Ramsay, Reitzenstein among others, should also be consulted. 
 
CHAPTER III. 
 JEWISH HELLENISM AND CHRISTIANITY. 
 
 THE layman, whether Christian or Jew, is scarcely 
 aware of the intimate connection that exists between 
 the Xew Testament and the various writings 
 of Hellenistic Judaism. It is only in our day that 
 attention has been given to this subject by such scholars 
 as Dr. Charles. In many important aspects, the historical 
 antecedents of the New Testament are to be sought 
 in the literature of the Hellenistic Jews rather than in 
 the original writings of the Old Testament or in the 
 Palestinian Rabbinic literature. Jewish beliefs and 
 customs underwent no slight variation in the interval 
 between the close of the Old Testament canon and the 
 rise of the New Testament. The modification bore 
 different aspects according to the environment of the 
 Jews. In Palestine the development was on lines 
 entirely different to the development in the Diaspora. 1 
 It was especially in the Hellenistic world that Judaism 
 underwent so profound a modification that it eventually 
 separated entirely from the official orthodox Judaism of 
 Palestine. 2 
 
 1 On " Jews in the Diaspora," see Bousset, Die Religion des 
 Judentums im neutestamenf lichen Zeiialter. pp. 147, 157, 221, 
 416 f. 
 
 -See JoSl, Blicke in d. Religionsgesch, i., p. 12 et passim., 
 and Weinstein, Zur Genesis der Agada, pp. 157 ff. 
 
 55 
 
56 HELLENISM AND CHRISTIANITY 
 
 The literature and philosophy of the Judeo-Alexan- 
 drian community are the most interesting and important 
 legacy of this movement. We have seen that Hellenism 
 is characterized by the growth of a hybrid civilization, 
 into which the thought and sentiment of the Orient, 
 permeated by Greek influences, had penetrated. The 
 new culture found her chief centres in the great cities of 
 Syria and Egypt ; after the conquests of Alexander 
 the Great, Hellenism predominated in these places, 
 where materialism and hedonism reigned supreme. 
 Not only was the old religion of the Greeks lifeless, but 
 the mysticism which was connected with Platonism 
 was also played out. People had lost faith in the old 
 dogmas. They were yearning for something more 
 definite. They asked for a religion which would satisfy 
 then* heart-felt longing for salvation, and which would 
 solve the eternal problems of life. 
 
 Plato, who died in 347 B.C.E., had declared that 
 this material world was a delusion and that the real 
 world was the ideal world, ever invisible to the eye, but 
 always revealed to the intellect. When the dawn of 
 Christianity was at hand, the Hellenistic mind had long 
 ceased to believein the speculations of the master teachers 
 of Greece. All the conflicting ideas and beliefs of the 
 Schools were felt to be arbitrary, and people asked for 
 something less fantastic and more convincing. The 
 Orient with her manifold forms of religion seemed to 
 offer the faith desired. In the East it was not philo- 
 sophy, but religion, which solved life's problems. There 
 was, moreover, a belief in a supernatural revelation, 
 
JEWISH HELLENISM AND CHRISTIANITY 57 
 
 coupled with a claim to bring man into communion with 
 the Deity, as well as an assurance of salvation in the 
 future life, associated with some of these religions. The 
 claim to a special Divine revelation was in itself a motive 
 of sufficient power to attract many hearts and minds of 
 the Greek world, who counted all philosophies as the 
 creation of the human intellect, and therefore imperfect 
 and without finality. On the other hand, a supernatural 
 revelation, such as the Jews claimed to possess, seemed 
 to be a perfect and final faith. The cults of the Orient 
 attacked the Hellenistic world with such energy as to 
 enable them to overcome completely the lifeless religions 
 of Greece. But in the conflict there was compromise, 
 and the result was a syncretism which has lasted in the 
 world until this very day. 
 
 The Judaism that flourished in Hellenistic circles 
 did not escape this syncretic movement. It naturally 
 ran the risk of being adulterated by the absorption of 
 various alien elements. In fact, it was modified to such 
 an extent as to lose its original distinctive character, 
 with the result that it was definitely rejected and 
 deliberately attacked by the orthodox Judaism of Pal- 
 estine. 1 This is the reason why Rabbinism in the second 
 century was compelled to ignore the extremely valuable 
 and interesting literature of Hellenistic Judaism. It did 
 this intentionally and instinctively. Judaism cannot 
 be a religion of compromise. To be both Greek to the 
 the Greeks and Hebrew to the Hebrews is an impossible 
 
 1 See Sopherim, i. 7, and Graetz, Geschichtc der Juden, Hi. 
 p. 615 f. 
 
58 HELLENISM AND CHRISTIANITY 
 
 task for the Jew. Judaism can only be one form of 
 that divine, eternally true, universal religion at one 
 particular time to all the world. When the world 
 is sufficiently ripe, it will gladly take hold of the spirit 
 of the Hebrew, and follow him in the worship of the 
 One God, Father of one humanity. 
 
 Greek philosophy, as represented by Platonism, 
 had declared that the spirit was the reality of life, and 
 that matter was of infinitely less importance. This view 
 is known as idealism, and for many centuries it was the 
 religion of the cultured Greeks. Their teachers and 
 philosophers did all in their power to emphasize the 
 vast superiority of the ideal or spiritual as contrasted with 
 the material. The spiritual nature of reality constituted 
 their God-idea, which was exalted and removed far 
 away from this material world. This transcendental 
 belief made it very difficult to explain the origin of 
 matter ; it was impossible to believe that the latter 
 could have been created by the God-idea, who is all 
 Spirit, because the spiritual was far too holy to be 
 brought into contact with matter, the source of all evil 
 and sin. Here, then, was the insuperable gulf which 
 divided the material from the spiritual. Heraclitus, one 
 of the earliest philosophical theologians of the Greeks, 
 had spoken of the Logos as the Divine Law of Life. 
 His Logos is "a Unity, Omni-present, Rational and 
 Divine, the guiding and controlling Cause of everything 
 that comes to pass, whether by the agency of man or of 
 nature." 1 The Logos is the reconciler of opposites, it 
 
 1 Adam, op. cit- p. 91. 
 
JEWISH HELLENISM AND CHRISTIANITY 59 
 
 is the hidden harmony which reconciles spirit and matter. 
 This is well brought out by Philo : "That which is made 
 up of both the opposites is one, and when this one is 
 dissected, the opposites are brought to light. Is not 
 this what the Greeks say their great and celebrated 
 Heraclitus put in the forefront of his philosophy as its 
 sum and substance, and boasted of as a new discovery?" 1 
 In other words, the Logos reveals unity. Heraclitus 
 had undoubtedly implied that the Logos was God, for he 
 says, " there is but one wisdom, it wills not and yet 
 wills to be called by the name of Zeus." The one 
 wisdom is the Logos, which is the ultimate reality ; it 
 is the Divine Reason, immanent both hi nature and 
 man. 
 
 The Logos was not personified by the early Greek 
 philosophers nor by the Stoics ; it was Christianity that 
 introduced the doctrine of the Incarnate Logos, the 
 eternal Christ or God-man ; thereby it constituted a 
 fundamental difference between itself and Stoicism. The 
 early Christian Fathers had justly declared that Greek 
 philosophy was a " preparation " for the Gospel. Greek 
 philosophy includes Philo, who was born at least 20 
 years before the birth of Christ. 2 As we have already 
 noted, Philo had interposed the Logos between God and 
 matter. 3 Even before the time of Philo the Logos had 
 played an important part in Jewish Hellenistic literature, 
 but it had not been constituted the basis of a definite 
 
 1 Quoted by Adam, op. cit. p. 98. 
 
 -'See Zeller, Philosophic der Griechen, iii. 2. p. 339, (3rd. ed.)- 
 
 a See above p. 44. 
 
60 HELLENISM AND CHRISTIANITY 
 
 system of philosophy and metaphysics. 1 This was the 
 original work of Philo, and was developed by the New 
 Testament along his lines. In other words, what the 
 Logos is to Philo, the Christ is to the writers of the New 
 Testament. Philo's Logos enabled men to think of God 
 as the transcendent King and Father of all. God is 
 represented by the Logos, in whose image the ideal man 
 is created. In this way God is united to man and the 
 world. We have already heard how Philo speaks of 
 the Logos as the first-born Son of God ; he also speaks 
 of the world as the second-born Son of God. 2 We have 
 here a special kind of Trinity : God the Supreme 
 Father ; His first-born Sou, the Logos ; and his second- 
 born Son, the world or matter. The whole of Philo's 
 speculation is based on the fundamental idea of the 
 Logos mediating between God the Spirit and the world 
 of created matter. Before we proceed to consider 
 Philo's doctrine of the Logos, we must direct our atten- 
 tion to the pre-Philonian Jewish Hellenistic literature, 
 and consider how this literature has exercised an 
 influence on the New Testament. 
 
 The first fruit of the union of Hellenism and 
 
 Alexandrian Judaism was the Greek version of the Old 
 i 
 
 Testament, usually spoken of as the Septuagint. 3 This 
 
 1 Cf. M. Friedlander, Zur Entstehungsgeschichte des Christen- 
 thums, pp. 8 ff., and Grill, Untersuchung iiber die Entstehung 
 des vierten Evangeliums, pp. 160 ff. 
 
 zQuodDeus immut., 6., M-i. 277., C.W. ii. p. 62, 31. 
 
 3 On the LXX in relation to Jewish Hellenism see Frankel, 
 Vorstudien zu der Septuaginta, pp. 175 ff. See also Drummond, 
 Philo Judceus, i. p. 156, Heinze, Die Lehre vom Logo s, p. 185 f. 
 and Bois, Essai, pp. 130 ff. 
 
JEWISH HELLENISM AND CHRISTIANITY 61 
 
 is by far the most important result of that fusion of the 
 Occident with the Orient which characterizes Hellenism. 
 The early Church Fathers looked upon this Greek 
 version of the Old Testament as a link in the Divine 
 dispensation for the salvation of humanity. The Jews 
 were equally keen, at all events in the early years of its 
 existence, in singing the praises of this wonderful trans- 
 lation. 1 The legend informs us how seventy-two scholars 
 were sent from Jerusalem to Egypt at the request of 
 King Ptolemy Philadelphus, and how, by the miracle 
 of God, they individually agreed in their version, 
 although they were isolated when engaged in their task 
 of translating the Hebrew original version into Greek. 
 Josephus, Philo, and the letter of Aristeas tell us all 
 the details of this legend. Dr. Swete, in the introduc- 
 tion to his erudite edition of the LXX, observes : 2 " Xo 
 question can arise as to the greatness of the place 
 occupied by the Alexandrian version in the religious 
 life of the first six centuries of its history. The LXX 
 was the Bible of the Hellenistic Jew, not only in 
 Egypt and Palestine but throughout Western Asia and 
 Europe. It created a language of religion which lent 
 itself readily to the service of Christianity, and became 
 one of the most important allies of the Gospel. It 
 provided the Greek-speaking Church with an authorized 
 translation of the Old Testament, and, when Christian 
 missions advanced beyond the limits of Hellenism, it 
 served as a basis for fresh translations into the 
 vernacular." 
 
 !T. B. Megilla, 9a. 2 p. 433. 
 
62 HELLENISM AND CHRISTIANITY 
 
 It may not be quite out of place to point out that 
 the English Church has until our own time followed 
 substantially the text of the LXX in the Prayer-book 
 version of the Psalms and in her Liturgy. The LXX is the 
 bond of union between Jew and Gentile. It was the 
 version which was generally used by the writers of the 
 New Testament. 1 Here and there, however, a different 
 version of a particular text of the Old Testament may 
 have been known to the evangelists or to Paul or to 
 the other authors of the New Testament. As to the 
 date of the LXX, Schiirer places it not later than 
 200 B.C.E., Herriot says it should be about 170 to 150 
 B.C.E., whilst Wendland thinks that it should be dated 
 as late as 96 B.C.E. What brought about the trans- 
 lation ? Three possible solutions of this problem have 
 been suggested : 2 (1) the interest felt by one of the 
 literary rulers of Egypt, where patronage of learning led 
 to the formation of the famous Alexandrian Library, 
 which had more than twenty millions of books. In this 
 library, not only were original manuscripts pre- 
 served, but translations of foreign literature were also 
 made. (2) A second view is, that the translation 
 arose to meet the wants of the Greek -speaking Jews, 
 who had forgotten Hebrew. This theory is supported 
 by Dr. Wendland. (3) The third explanation is, that 
 the version was prepared for the use of missionaries sent 
 out by the Jews throughout the world. Philo seems 
 to favour this view, for he expresses the hope that the 
 
 1 See Vollmer, Die A. T. Citate bei Paulus, pp. 8 ff. 
 2 See also Frankel, op. /.pp. 5 ff 
 
JEWISH HELLENISM AND CHRISTIANITY 63 
 
 " laws of the Hebrew Bible will displace those of other 
 nations. " We cannot dwell here on the vast importance 
 of the LXX for the phraseology and theology of the 
 New Testament. Dr. Swete deals with this problem. 1 
 One should also consult the interesting article by Thayer, 2 
 who sums up by observing that the general influence of 
 the LXX upon Xew Testament Greek was indubitably 
 great. 3 
 
 Alexandrine Judaism was not only interested in 
 translating the Old Testament, but it also felt the need 
 of re-interpreting the old views by more modern scrip- 
 tures. Hence arose the Apocryphal literature. In the 
 Apocrypha we have a second source whence the New 
 Testament writers borrowed most freely. The subject 
 is one that has not yet received the attention which 
 it so richly deserves. Let us consider one or two of 
 the books of the Apocrypha, in order to see how they 
 have influenced the Xew Testament. We will direct 
 our attention to the Book of the Wisdom, of Solomon, 
 which was intended to combat and replace the Old 
 Testament Book of Wisdom known as Ecclesiastes, or, 
 Koheleth, attributed to Solomon. The Greek Book of 
 Wisdom protests against the opinion of such Jews who 
 favour Hellenistic philosophy by inclining partly to 
 Stoicism and partly to Epicureanism. Some of these 
 philosophical teachings appear to have had, to a certain 
 extent, the support of the Old Testament Book of 
 
 . tit. pp. 450-457. 
 2 Hastings' D.B. iii. s. v. Language of tJie New Testament. 
 p. 40. 
 
64 HELLENISM AND CHRISTIANITY 
 
 Koheleth. There are not wanting critics who claim to 
 have detected traces of Greek philosophy in this little 
 book of the Hebrew Scriptures. 1 To the opinions of 
 Solomon the sceptic of the Old Testament the new 
 Book of Wisdom offers a corrective. The original 
 language of this Book of the Apocrypha was Greek. 2 
 The form of thought in this Book is also, to an extent, 
 Greek. 3 The Hebraizing expressions and the poetic 
 form of structure are due to the LXX. The author makes 
 no attempt to allegorize away the stories of the Old 
 Testament, nor does he adorn his narrative by intro- 
 ducing Greek philosophy to any great extent. He 
 is very bitter against the weak-kneed Jews of his 
 day, who had allowed themselves to be turned from 
 their Judaism by Greek culture. 4 The object of the 
 book is to insist that it is only in Judaism where the 
 true wisdom is to be found. " The choice of this notion 
 of wisdom was specially happy, because within its 
 sweep could be brought all that the Greek philosophy 
 contained of truth, and all that the Old Testament 
 taught about Chochma." 5 If it be true that the author 
 of Wisdom owes his conception of wisdom as the all 
 pervading power 6 to the Stoics, it is undoubtedly a 
 fact that his doctrine of wisdom as an attribute of God 
 is based wholly upon the Old Testament. 7 
 
 It is necessary to consider very briefly the devel- 
 
 l nc. Bib. 1162. 2 See/. Q. R., 1891, pp. 722 ff. 
 
 *Enc. Bib. 1178. 4 i., 16 H, 24. 
 
 6 Siegfried, in Hastings' D.B., iv., pp. 929a. 
 
 vii., 22-24. 7 Proverbs, viii. 22 ff. according to the LXX. 
 
JEWISH HELLENISM AND CHRISTIANITY 65 
 
 opment of the Jewish doctrine of wisdom. In Proverbs 
 it is conceived of as a personified creation, which God 
 created as the first of His works prior to the creation 
 of the world. The text of Proverbs (viii. 22-31) is as 
 follows : 
 
 "The Lord formed me as the beginning of His 
 way, as the first of His works of old. 
 
 " I was set up from everlasting, from the beginning, 
 or ever the earth was. 
 
 " When there were no depths, I was brought forth ; 
 When there were no fountains abounding with water. 
 
 "Before the mountains were settled, before the 
 hills was I brought forth : 
 
 " While as yet He had not made the earth, nor the 
 fields, nor the sum of the dust of the world. 
 
 " When He established the heavens, I was there : 
 
 " When He set a circle upon the face of the deep : 
 when He made firm the skies above : when the fountains 
 of the deep became strong : when He gave to the sea its 
 bound, that the waters should not transgress His 
 commandment : 
 
 "When He marked out the foundations of the 
 earth, then I was by Him as a little child : l 
 
 "And I was daily His delight, rejoicing always 
 before Hun ; 
 
 " Rejoicing in His habitable earth ; 
 
 1 This translation agrees with the version in Kautzsch's last 
 edition of the Old Testament (ii. p. 262). In Kautzsch's Biblische 
 Theologie des A. T. (1911) p. 372, Wisdom is incorrectly spoken 
 of as " the master workman," see also Fainveather, The Back- 
 ground of tht Gospels (y)\l\ p. 84, where Gunkel's translation 
 of pOK (nursling) is quoted. 
 
 F 
 
66 
 
 " And ray delight was with the sons of men." 
 
 According to the Hebrew text the Book of Pro- 
 verbs clearly implies that Wisdom did not assist God in 
 the work of creation, but was only at His side looking 
 on as a spectator. The Revised Version renders the 
 crucial verse 30 as follows : " Then I was by Him, a* 
 a master workman " undoubtedly implying co-creation. 
 This version is due to the LXX (ap/mdgovcra arranging 
 [all things]). The Hebrew text is J1DK I^K HVIK1 
 The word }10N is compared by Rashi (llth century) with 
 D'JpKn (Lam. iv. 5) " They that were brought up," and 
 he again compares this latter expression with Esther 
 (ii.7) )01N Wl " And he was the one who was nurturing 
 (or bringing up)." The word ]1QK upon the analogy of 
 ]D1K X means foster-child. What a child is to man, that 
 was Wisdom, the first-born of creation, to the Creator. 
 Later, when God began to complete His work of creation, 
 Wisdom was with Him and beheld His wonderful work. 
 Then after man was formed, Wisdom found her allotted 
 task ready, for she had to find her " delight with the 
 sons of men." Her work was not to create the world, 
 but to guide the souls of God's earthly children. To 
 humanity she turns and cries : " Now therefore, sons, 
 hearken unto me, for blessed are they that keep my ways. 
 
 "Hear instruction and be wise, and refuse it not." 2 
 
 The pure monotheism of Biblical Judaism rejects 
 
 1 See Numbers, xi. 12. This view agrees with Ibn Gannach, 
 
 rn 160, ed. Bacher, p. 38, and Ibn Ezra in loc. 
 Prov. ibid.) verses 32, 33. 
 
JEWISH HELLENISM AND CHRISTIANITY 67 
 
 absolutely the idea of Wisdom as a separate entity, 
 independent of God, co-operating in the creation of the 
 world. It grants that God created the Universe in 
 wisdom or with wisdom, but not by the help of Wisdom. 
 Wisdom may be a Divine instrument or tool in the 
 hands of the Creator, but is not an independent 
 workman. In the Greek Book of Wisdom this doctrine 
 of Proverbs is developed somewhat First of all, the 
 author frequently personifies Wisdom. 1 He also rep- 
 resents Wisdom as immanent in God, as a Divine 
 attribute. 2 Again, the author thinks of it as something 
 quite independent, existing side by side with God 3 
 The real point in the development of the doctrine is 
 reached when the writer makes Wisdom co-operate in 
 the work of creation. In the Hebrew Book of Proverbs 
 God alone created the world, and Wisdom was simply a 
 witness of His work. In the Greek Book of Wisdom 
 we read : " She (i.e. Wisdom) chooseth out for Him His 
 works " (viii. 4). 
 
 " For she that is the artificer of all things taught me, 
 even Wisdom. 
 
 " For there is in her a spirit quick of understanding, 
 holy, 
 
 " Only begotten, manifold, 
 
 " Subtil, freely moving, 
 
 " Clear in utterance, unpolluted, 
 
 "Distinct, unharmed, 
 
 " Loving what is good, keen, unhindered, 
 
 J i. 6; viii. 9 ; x. 1 ff. 2 vii. 26. 
 
 3 vii. 22 ; viii. 3 ; ix. 4. 
 
68 HELLENISM AND CHRISTIANITY 
 
 " Beneficent, loving toward man, 
 
 " Stedfast, sure, free from care, 
 
 " All-powerful, all-surveying, 
 
 " And penetrating through all spirits 
 
 "That are quick of understanding, pure, most 
 subtil : 
 
 " For Wisdom is more mobile than any motion ; 
 
 " Yea, she pervadeth and penetrateth all things by 
 reason of her pureness. 
 
 " For she is a breath of the power of God, 
 " And a clear effluence of the glory of the Almighty; 
 " Therefore can nothing defiled find entrance into 
 her. 
 
 " For she is an effulgence from everlasting light, 
 " And an unspotted mirror of the working of God, 
 " And an image of His goodness. 
 " And she, being one, hath power to do all things." 1 
 
 We can pause here for a moment, although there 
 is much more to discuss in connection with this book, 
 e.g., the doctrine that love is the Divine Essence, or 
 the dogma that man is created for incorruption, or the 
 hope of a Messianic Kingdom when God will rule over 
 Jew and Heathen and we must ask, What has been 
 the influence which this book has exercised upon the 
 New Testament? Grafe has established once for all 
 the fact of Paul's intimate acquaintance with, and 
 dependence upon this book, in regard to (1) the doctrine 
 of predestination ; (2) the condemnation of the idolatry 
 
 1 Chap. vii. 22-27. 
 
JEWISH HELLENISM AND CHRISTIANITY 69 
 
 of the heathen ; and (3) the conception of the relation 
 of body and soul. 1 
 
 The extremely important passage already quoted : 
 " For she is an effulgence from everlasting light, and an 
 unspotted mirror of the working of God, and an image 
 of His goodness " (vii. 26) bears a striking resemblance to 
 the Epistle to the Hebrews 2 (i. 2, 3) where the Son of 
 God, the Christ, is described as the one whom God 
 " appointed heir of all things, through whom also He 
 jnade the worlds ; who being the effulgence of His glory 
 and the very image of His substance, and upholding all 
 things by the word of His power." The word 
 aTrairyaoTid or " effulgence," is common to the Book of 
 Wisdom and to this Epistle. 3 Strange to say it is not 
 found elsewhere in the New Testament. The Greek for 
 " very image " x a P aKr *>P m the Epistle leads us back 
 to Philo (#e Plant. 5. Mi. 332: C. W. ii. p. 128, 18), 
 where he also speaks of the " effulgence " and describes 
 the everlasting Logos as the " very image " of the seal of 
 God. 4 Whatever is impressed by the seal bears the mark 
 of the seal, its stamp, its character. Philo wishes to imply 
 that the Logos is the impression or stamp of the Divine 
 
 1 See Grafe, Das Verhdltniss der Paulin. Schriften zu Sap. 
 Solom. Freiburg, 1892, p. 251 ff. 
 
 2 Cf. II. Cor. iii., 18. 
 
 3 Cf. Philo, De opif. mundi, 51. Mi. 35 : C.W. i. p. 42, 146. 
 
 4 See also Quod det. pot. insid. 23. Mi. 207 : C.W. i.p. 257, 83 
 where the Tn/eiyxa (Spirit) is spoken of as the " character of the 
 Divine Power." On the identification of the Divine Power with 
 Wisdom and the Christ, see i. Cor. i. 24. Philo sometimes 
 identifies Wisdom with the Logos, see Leg. alleg. i. 19, Mi. 56 : 
 C. W. i. p. 66, 65, and cf. M. Friedliinder, op. cit., pp. 19, 27 f. 
 
70 HELLENISM AND CHRISTIANITY 
 
 Seal, and that men are created in the image of this 
 stamp. The "very image" or the "character" with 
 which God creates and which He impresses on His 
 creation is, according to Philo, the Logos or, according 
 to the Epistle to the Hebrews, the Son of God or the 
 Christ. Both Philo and the New Testament agree in 
 holding that it was not God who made the world, but 
 the Logos or the Son of God or the Christ. With 
 Philo the Logos is the Son of God, who creates the 
 world ; in the New Testament it is the Christ who is 
 the Son of God, who also creates the world. The word 
 "effulgence" bears a double implication: (1) it reflects 
 the light of its source, (2) it sheds light on the objects 
 around it. 
 
 The author of the Book of Wisdom proceeds to 
 trace the working of Wisdom in history as Divine 
 Providence. Thus he discusses the Old Testament 
 narrative of the punishment which befell the rebellious 
 children of Israel in the wilderness when fiery serpents 
 bit them. Many Israelites died, but when Moses made 
 the brazen serpent all who looked up to it were healed. 
 In the Book of Wisdom this is modified in the following 
 remarkable manner : "For of a truth it was neither 
 herb nor mollifying plaister that cured them, but Thy 
 Logos (Word), Lord, which healeth all things "(xvi. 12). 
 This idea was most likely in the mind of the author of 
 the Fourth Gospel when he wrote: "And as Moses 
 lifted up the serpent in the wildnerness, so must the 
 Son of Man be lifted up." 1 The Son of Man in the 
 
 x john iii. 14. 
 
JEWISH HELLENISM AND CHRISTIANITY 71 
 
 Fourth Gospel is the Logos or Divine Word. Just as 
 the serpent that was lifted up in the wilderness caused 
 a miraculous cure (according to Numbers xxi. 6-9), so 
 God's Ward according to the Book of Wisdom, or the 
 Son of Man according to the Fourth Gospel, effects 
 restoration to life. Again, the Epistle to the Hebrews 
 (iv. 12) says : " For the Word of God is living, and active, 
 and sharper than any two-edged sword, and piercing 
 even to the dividing of soul and spirit . . . and quick 
 to discern the thoughts and intents of the heart." This 
 verse has also been influenced by the passage from the 
 Book of Wisdom 1 which we have already quoted, and 
 here we find the attributes of Wisdom transferred to the 
 Logos or Christ. Parallel expressions are also to be 
 found in Philo, although the Book of Wisdom is the 
 undoubted source used by the writer of the Epistle to the 
 Hebrews. 2 
 
 Let us consider one more quotation from the Book 
 of Wisdom : 
 
 "Thine Almighty Word (Logos) leaped down from 
 heaven out of the royal thrones, 
 
 " A stern warrior, into the midst of the doomed 
 land, 
 
 "Bearing as a sharp sword 3 Thine unfeigned 
 commandment : 
 
 " And standing it filled all things with death ; 
 
 " And while it touched the heaven, it trode upon 
 the earth" (xviiL 15, 16). 
 
 1 vii. 22 ff. 
 
 2 See Siegfried, op. cit. p. 325 f. 
 
 3 Compare this passage with the Epistle to tJie Hebrews iv. 12, 
 "the sword" is common to both texts. 
 
72 HELLENISM AND CHRISTIANITY 
 
 The expressions in this passage of the Book of 
 Wisdom approximate very closely to the description of 
 the Logos in the Fourth Gospel. It is by no means 
 correct to say that the terms used by Wisdom are 
 another form of the saying of the Psalmist: " He sendeth 
 forth his commandment upon the earth ; His word 
 runneth very swiftly." 1 What we have is rather the 
 personal Logos, as distinguished from the personified 
 commandment. " It is clear," says Bishop Bull, " that 
 the author is speaking of a personally-subsisting Word 
 (Logos). And it is no less evident that it is not some 
 ministering angel, as Grotius would have it, but a 
 Divine person that is designated in this place ; for the 
 author calls this word (Logos) 'Almighty,' and also 
 assigns him a royal throne in heaven." 2 
 
 Here we have " an adumbration of the doctrine 
 of the Second Person of the Trinity, who is God 
 in Heaven, even while He walks on earth as Man." 3 
 We must also point out that Wisdom (viL 22) identifies 
 Wisdom <ro0/a with the Holy Spirit. 4 
 
 In one passage (ix. 17 f.) the three great concep- 
 tions God, Wisdom and the Holy Spirit are joined 
 together in a manner which adumbrates the Christian 
 doctrine of the Trinity. It is a passage too important 
 to pass by : " And who ever gained knowledge of Thy 
 
 J cxlvii. IS. 
 
 2 Deane, Book of Wisdom, p. 212. 
 
 3 Deane, ibid. 
 
 *And cf. ix. 17, and Euseb. Praep. Ev. vii. 12 and xi. 14. 
 We have seen that Philo identifies sometimes the Logos with 
 Wisdom, see Drummond, op. cit. ii. pp. 201 ff. ; Heinze, op. cit. 
 p. 194 and above, p. 69. 
 
JEWISH HELLENISM AND CHRISTIANITY 73 
 
 counsel, except Thou gavest Wisdom, and sentest Thy 
 Holy Spirit from on high ? . . . and through Wisdom were 
 (men) saved." The sending forth of the Holy Spirit 
 from on high, and the saving of man through Wisdom or 
 the Logos are ideas which seem to have influenced Chris- 
 tian belief. Is there any doubt at all that the specula- 
 tions of the author of the Book of Wisdom helped to 
 provide the categories for the Christian doctrine of the 
 Christ-Logos ? 
 
 Wisdom is called in this Apocryphal book 
 "only-begotten." 1 This epithet is also applied to Jesus 
 in John i. 14 and 18. St. Augustine 2 used the passage 
 of Wisdom (vii. 22) to show the consubstantiality of the 
 Father and Son, and he takes, generally speaking, what 
 is said of Wisdom to be spoken of the Christ. 
 
 Let us now sum up. The fact is patent that the 
 description of Wisdom in the Greek Book of Wisdom 
 prepared the way for the recognition of the Logos as a 
 Son of God and Christ by the New Testament. The 
 stages are as follows : Wisdom was identified succes- 
 sively with the Power of God (Swafiis), the Holy Spirit, 
 the Logos, the Son of God and the Christ. 
 
 Such passages of the Book of Wisdom as : " God 
 made not death ; and takes no pleasure in the destruction 
 of the living" (i. 13) or again: "through envy of the 
 devil death came into the world" (ii. 24) 3 or once 
 
 1 Wisdom (vii. 22) ; see Grill, op. cit. p. 77, and cf. Fein, 
 Theologie des N.T., p. 555. 
 ~De Trinit. iv. 20. 
 :i Cf. John viii. 44. 
 
74 H ELLEN IBM AND CHRISTIANITY 
 
 more: "For a corruptible body weigheth down the soul, 
 and the earthy tabernacle lieth heavy on the mind " 
 (ix. 15) 1 or finally, the thought that Wisdom cannot 
 dwell " in a body subject to sin " do not some of these 
 thoughts and expressions seem to be re-echoed in the 
 writings of Paul? It may be argued that if there be merely 
 a similar word or term in the two authors, it would by no 
 means imply any actual dependence of the one on the 
 other. We must rather inquire whether the same trend 
 of thought as well as the unusual phraseology exist 
 in both authors ; if this be the case, there seems to be 
 good reason to assume conscious adaptation or bor- 
 rowing on the part of the younger writer from his 
 predecessor. 
 
 It may be of interest to consider to what extent 
 Paul made use of the Greek Book of Wisdom. 2 In 
 Wisdom (xiii. to xv.) we are reminded that man is vain 
 and sinful when he is without the perception of God. 
 The worshippers of idols are not to be excused because 
 they did not discover God, although they claimed to 
 explore the course of things. Wisdom argues that God 
 could be known from the beauty of His work. Paul 
 likewise says: " For the invisible things of Him since the 
 creation of the world are clearly seen, being perceived 
 through the things that are made, even His everlasting 
 power and divinity, 3 so that they are without excuse" 
 (Rom. i. 20). 
 
 *Cf. ii Cor. v. 4. 
 
 2 See Pfleiderer, Urchristentum (2nd. ed.) ii. p. 24. 
 8 The " power and divinity " are identified by Paul and Philo, 
 see above, p. 64, note 4, and p. 72, note 4. 
 
JEWISH HELLENISM AND CHRISTIANITY 75 
 
 The Book of Wisdom as well as Paul refer to the 
 folly of making idols, and the consequent immoral worship 
 connected therewith: "For the worship of those nameless 
 idols is a beginning and cause and end of every evil" 
 (Wisd. xiv. 27.)' The ^ s * of sins in this chapter of 
 Wisdom must be compared with Paul's list. The Apostle 
 to the Gentiles (Romans L 29) speaks of men as " being 
 filled with all unrighteousness, wickedness, covetous- 
 ness, maliciousness; full of envy, murder, strife, deceit, 
 malignity " and so on. Wisdom also describes the 
 idolaters in the following words : " No longer do they 
 guard either life or purity of marriage. But one brings 
 upon another either death by treachery, or anguish 
 by adulterous offspring. And all things confusedly are 
 filled with blood and murder, theft and deceit" (xiv. 24 f.). 
 
 Paul is fond of describing the vices of heathenism. 1 
 There is, of course, a different point of view in each 
 writer. Wisdom attributes heathenism to the ignorance 
 of man ; Paul considers the cause to be man's perverted 
 will. He also admits that men " became vain in their 
 reasonings, and their senseless heart was darkened " 
 (Rom. L 21.). Wisdom also speaks of "the senseless 
 imaginings of their unrighteousness, wherein they 
 were led astray to worship irrational reptiles" (xi. 15). 
 Another instance will show more clearly the use 
 of similar expressions. In Romans we read: "Or hath not 
 tke potter a right over the clay, from the same lump to 
 make one part a vessel unto honour, and another unto 
 
 1 See Gal. v., 19-21, n Cor. xii. 20, and cf. I Tim. i., 9 and 10 ; 
 see also Epist. Barnab. '20. 
 
76 HELLENISM AND CHRISTIANITY 
 
 dishonour? " (ix. 21). Wisdom also declares: "For a 
 potter, kneading soft earth, laboriously mouldetli each 
 several vessel for our service : nay, out of the same clay 
 doth he fashion both the vessels that minister to clean 
 uses, and those of a contrary sort " (xv. 7). 1 
 
 The next two verses to the last quotation from 
 Romans (ix. 22, 23) run as follows : " What if God, 
 willing to shew his wrath, and to make his power known, 
 endured with much longsuiFering vessels of wrath 
 fitted unto destruction : that he might make known the 
 riches of his glory upon vessels of mercy, which he afore 
 prepared unto glory." In the Book of Wisdom (xii. 20, 
 21) we find a similar thought: "For if on them 
 that were enemies of thy servants and due to death 
 thou didst take vengeance with so great heedfulness 
 and indulgence, giving them times and place whereby 
 they might escape from their wickedness : with how great 
 carefulness didst thou judge thy sons, to whose fathers 
 thou gavest oaths and covenants of good promise." If God 
 gave the enemies of His children time to repent before 
 He punished them, how much more does this apply to 
 His own redeemed children ? Both Paul and Wisdom 
 in these parallel passages refer to Pharaoh and the 
 Egyptians as the objects of God's wrath. There can be 
 no doubt that Paul must have known this passage of 
 Wisdom when writing the ninth chapter of his Epistle 
 to the Romans. 2 
 
 1 Cf. Ecclus. xxxiii. 12,13. 
 
 2 Compare also Ro. ix. 1, with Wisdom xvii.ll, and Ro. ix. 19, 
 22, with Wisdom xii. 12. 
 
JEWISH HELLENISM AND CHRISTIANITY 77 
 
 When Wisdom (xi. 23) cries to God: " But thou 
 hast mercy on all men, because thou hast power to do all 
 things " do we not seem to hear an echo in the well- 
 known words of Paul : " For God hath shut up all unto 
 disbedience, that he might have mercy upon //"(Rom. XL 
 32)? There is no need to dwell on the relative moral worth 
 of the two writers, but in this instance it certainly seems 
 that Wisdom is on a higher plane. Speaking of 
 the righteous, the Book of Wisdom says : " They shall 
 judge nations, and have dominion over people" (iii. 8). 
 Paul repeats this: " Or know ye not that the saints shall 
 judge the world ? " (i Cor. vi. 2). 
 
 In the Epistle to the Ephesians we find the striking 
 passage: " Put on the whole armour 1 of God, that ye may 
 be able to stand against the wiles of the devil . . . 
 stand therefore, having girded your loins with truth, and 
 having put on the breastplate of righteousness . . . 
 withal taking up the shield of faith . . . and take the 
 helmet of salvation, and the sword of the Spirit, which 
 is the Word of God" 2 (vi. 11-17). In the Book of 
 Wisdom we have the source whence the author of this 
 Epistle drew his illustration. Wisdom declares that 
 God protects the righteous : " He shall take his 
 jealousy as whole armour . , . he shall put on 
 righteousness as a breastplate, and shall array himself 
 with judgment unfeigned as with a helmet. He shall 
 
 T The word iravoTrXia (whole armour) occurs also in Wisdom 
 v. 18. 
 
 2 Word (Logos) of God is identified here with the Spirit. 
 
78 HELLENISM AND CHRISTIANITY 
 
 take holiness as an invincible shield, and he shall sharpen 
 stern wrath for a sword" (v. 17-20). 1 
 
 Paul longs for the freedom of the Spirit. He 
 writes to the Corinthians : " For verily in this we groan, 
 longing to be clothed upon with our habitation which is 
 from heaven ... for indeed we that are in this taber- 
 nacle do groan, being burdened . . . that what is mortal 
 may be swallowed up of life " (n Cor. v. 2 and 4). 
 This seems to be practically the teaching of the Book 
 of Wisdom : " For a corruptible body weigheth down 
 the soul, and the earthy tabernacle lieth heavy on the mind 
 that is full of cares (ix. 15). 2 Can there be any doubt 
 at all that Paul, who speaks of the Manna as a spiritual 
 food, 3 was indebted for this symbolism to the Book of 
 Wisdom which also declares that God gave his people 
 " Angels' food " (xvi. 20) ? 
 
 One more parallel will suffice to show how Paul 
 was influenced by the Greek Book of Wisdom. In his 
 Epistle to the Romans he writes : " Or despisest thou 
 the riches of his goodness and forbearance and long- 
 suffering, not knowing that the goodness of God leadeth 
 thee to repentance?" (ii. 4). In Wisdom we read: 
 " But thou, our God, art gracious and true, longsuffering, 
 and in mercy ordering all things. For even if we sin, 
 we are thine, knowing thy dominion ; but we shall not 
 
 1 Some authorities refer to Is. lix. 17 as the source used by the 
 writer of the Epistle to the Ephesians. We find breastplate and 
 helmet in Isaiah ; whereas in Wisdom we h ave whole armour, 
 shield and. sword vn. addition. 
 
 2 Cf. Plato, Phaedo 30, 81 c ; and seeE. Pfleiderer, Die Philo- 
 sophic des Heraklit, p. 296. 
 
 c i Cor. x. 3 j cf. LXX version of Ps. Ixxviii. 25. 
 
JEWISH HELLENISM AND CHRISTIANITY 79 
 
 sin, knowing that we have been accounted thine" 
 (xv. 1, 2). 1 
 
 The New Testament did not rely exclusively on / 
 the Greek Book of Wisdom ; there was another Book / 
 of Wisdom composed by Jesus, the son of Sirach. This / 
 book, commonly called Ecclesiasticus, also contributed 
 its quota to the Christology of the New Testament. The 
 teaching of both these Books of Wisdom was developed 
 by Philo, and we must turn to his writings to find the 
 last link in the chain of development. The historical 
 order is then as follows : LXX, Ecclesiasticus, Wisdom, 
 Philo and the New Testament. It may be just as well 
 to refer for a moment or two to the Book of Ecclesias- 
 ticus. This was originally written in Hebrew, portions 
 of which were discovered by Dr. Schechter in 1896. 2 
 This book is much earlier than the Greek Wisdom of 
 Solomon and is intermediate, not only in time but in 
 development of doctrine, between the Old Testament 
 and this Greek apocryphal book. In Sirach the sole 
 intermediary between God and the world is the divine 
 attribute of Wisdom, which is personified and repre- 
 sented as the Divine principle of creation, but it is not 
 an independent force or being. 3 The actual part played 
 by Wisdom in the drama of creation is somewhat 
 obscure in this book. Wisdom is said to have " come 
 forth from the mouth of the Most High " and to have 
 " covered the earth as a mist "* She declares : 
 
 a This parallel is adduced by HQhn, Die A. T. Citate im N.T., 
 p. 145. 
 
 -See Wisdom of Ben Sira, ed. Schechter and Taylor, p. v. 
 3 Cf. Hastings' D.B. v. p. 282 a. 
 4 See above, p. 25 (note). 
 
80 HELLENISM AND CHRISTIANITY 
 
 " I dwelt in high places, and my throne is in the 
 pillar of the cloud. 
 
 "Alone I compassed the circuit of heaven, and 
 walked in the depth of the abyss . . . ." 
 
 "He created me from the beginning before the 
 world . . . 
 
 " In the holy tabernacle I ministered before Him 
 
 "And so was I established in Zion" (xxiv. 3-5, 9, 10) 
 
 Wisdom is y then, a creation of God and seems to 
 have been destined to play a part in the providential 
 history of Israel. 
 
 The connection of Wisdom with a pillar of cloud 
 is of some interest, because Philo also identifies the 
 pillar of cloud (Exodus xiv. 19) with the Logos, which 
 " gently showers down Wisdom on virtuous understan- 
 dings." (Quis rer. div. h. 42, Mi. 501: C.W. iii. p. 39, 
 204). 1 In the New Testament Christ is also associated 
 with the providential working of the history of the chosen 
 people. He was the Manna, and also the Rock that 
 was believed to have followed the Israelites in the 
 wilderness. We shall return to these points in our 
 next chapter. 
 
 More important is the idea of Sirach that Wisdom 
 was ministering in the Holy Tabernacle. Here, again, 
 Philo adopts this idea when he declares that the high 
 priest in the Sanctuary is no man, but the Logos. 2 
 This theory is also to be found in the New Testament 
 
 1 See also De Vit. Mos. 1,29, M. ii. 107: C.W. iv. p. 133, 
 166, and cf. Wisdom, x. 15 ff. where the cloudis identified with 
 Wisdom. 
 
 Prof. 20, Mi. 562. 
 
JEWISH HELLENISM AND CHRISTIANITY 81 
 
 where Christ is described as the High Priest 1 Why 
 does the New Testament speak of Jesus as a Priest 
 In his earthly life he never exercised priestly functions, 2 
 nor did he claim to belong to the house of Levi. The 
 solution to this question is forced upon us by the fact 
 that the authors of the New Testament must have used 
 the Book of Sirach, where we find Wisdom describe d as 
 officiating in God's Holy Tabernacle. We have seen 
 that Wisdom became identified with the Logos of Philo 
 and his Logos is the Son of God, who is also the High 
 Priest. This re-appears in the New Testament where 
 the Christ is also the High Priest, the Logos and the 
 Son of God. 
 
 Enough has been said to justify our main contention 
 that Paul and the other writers of the New Testament 
 books were profoundly influenced by the Hellenistic 
 Jewish books of Wisdom. Equally fruitful would be 
 the comparison of the other books of the Apocrypha 
 and the pseud-epigraphic writings of the Alexandrian 
 Jews with the New Testament It could easily be 
 demonstrated that these books have influenced in a 
 marked degree most of the writings contained in the 
 New Testament. Dr. Charles has shown to what a 
 large extent the Testaments of the Twelve Patriarchs 
 were used by the New Testament authors. The Book 
 of Enoch is directly cited by Jude (14, 15), who also 
 
 iSee Heb. iii. 1 ; vii. 15, 24 ; ix. 25. 
 
 s Works of mercy were not the prerogative of the Hebrew 
 priesthood. On the priestly office of the Christian Messiah see 
 Witsius, MiscelL Sac. ii. pp. 454 ff. and cf. Hastings' D.C.G. 
 ii. pp. 41 ff. G 
 
82 HELLENISM AND CHRISTIANITY 
 
 makes use of the Assumption of Moses (9). 1 Our 
 chief interest has been to attempt to investigate and 
 trace the source of the Christology of the New Testa- 
 ment. We have shown thus far that there is a conscious 
 adaptation on the part of the theologians of the New 
 Testament of the Hellenistic Jewish Wisdom 
 doctrine, which is entirely transferred and applied to 
 the Christ doctrine. The link was the Logos which 
 occurs in Wisdom, Philo, and the New Testament 
 It is necessary once more to emphasize the fact that 
 Palestinian Judaism must not be held responsible for 
 this development When we are told that " Christianity 
 came forth from the bosom of Pharisaic Judaism," 2 we 
 must bear in mind that this would be true if applied only 
 from a general point of view to some of the teaching 
 attributed to Jesus. As we have already said, the greater 
 part of the Sermon on the Mount, the Lord's Prayer 
 and some of the parables may truly be described as 
 the fruit of Pharisaic Judaism. This origin, however, 
 does not apply to the theology of Paul, John, or the 
 author of the Epistle to the Hebrews. Judaism of 
 Palestine must not be held responsible for the stories of 
 the Nativity, Crucifixion, Ascension or Resurrection, 
 nor for the Logos doctrine. All these elements are the 
 products of Hellenism. One might be more definite and 
 
 'say that some of these elements were due to Jewish 
 Hellenism ; but as we shall see, Christianity owed as 
 much to pagan Hellenism as it did to Jewish Hellenism 
 for its origin and development. 
 
 1 See Assumption of 'Moses, ed. Charles, pp. Ixii. ff. 
 Castings' D.B. i. p. 109a. 
 
JEWISH HELLENISM AND CHRISTIANITY 83 
 
 LITERATURE. 
 
 On Paul and Greek Philosophy see Sir W. Ramsay in 
 Hastings 5 D.B. v. 150a. 
 
 LXX : See Nestle in Hastings' D.B. 
 
 Ecclesiasticus : Kautzsch's edition for bibliography. 
 
 See Hastings' D.B. iv. (Nestle) and (Fairweather) and 
 Enc. Bib. sub. voc. 
 
 Wisdom: see Grimm's Commentary and Kautzsch's 
 edition for bibliography. 
 
 Siegfried's article in Hastings' D.B. iv. 928 ff. and 283a. 
 
 Fairweather, in Hastings' D.B. v. on the Logos problem. 
 
 Toy's article in Enc. Bib. iv. 5336 ff. 
 
 See also Drummond, Philojudceus, voL i. p. 177 ff. 
 
\ 
 
 CHAPTER IV. 
 PHILO AND THE NEW TESTAMENT. 
 
 THE historical Jesus remains for ever a proble- 
 matical figure, concerning whose life we can only make 
 more or less probable suggestions. It was just this 
 lack of historical fact that enabled the Church to 
 develop her ideal Christ without fearing the criticism of 
 history. So eminent an authority as Dr. Wendland 1 
 considers that hi proportion as the picture of the historical 
 Jesus lacked reality, so much the more did Paul press 
 forward his Messiah theology. In other words, the 
 want of historical fact was compensated by the abun- 
 dance of metaphysics. Paul's theology thrust aside the 
 figure of the human or historical Jesus in order to dwell 
 on the Heavenly Christ. Dr. Wendland admits that 
 Paul grew up in Jewish circles other than those in 
 which Jesus grew up. 
 
 We believe that the only reasonable and true 
 account of Paul's Christology is to be found in the 
 identification of Jbis Christ with Philo's Logos. The 
 Logos was the Messiah not only for John, but also for 
 Philo from whom John (or the author of the Fourth 
 Gospel) took the term and idea. We have seen how 
 the writer of the Epistle to the Hebrews also borrowed 
 
 *0p. dt, p. 140. 
 
 84 
 
PHILO AND THE NEW TESTAMENT 85 
 
 his Messianic categories from the Wisdom-Logos idea 
 of the Hellenistic Jewish theologians. If, then, the 
 writers of the New Testament did not hesitate to make 
 use of the Wisdom-Logos conceptions of the Books of 
 Wisdom and of Philo, why should we imagine that 
 Paul should not have done likewise ? Indeed, this 
 would have been the most natural thing for him to do, 
 for Philo is his predecessor with whose writings he 
 must have been well acquainted. 
 
 Philo's Logos is free from national, local or histori- 
 cal associations. He emphasizes thereby the universal 
 nature of its operations. It is a moot question among 
 scholars whether Philo attributed personality to his 
 Logos. 1 In some passages he undoubtedly does so, as 
 when he speaks of the Logos as a Mediator. However, 
 be this as it may, we might point out that although the 
 Holy Ghost has been recognized by the Church as a 
 part of the Trinity, it lacks personality quite as much as 
 the Logos, and nevertheless it is considered to be part of 
 the Godhead. The Logos of Philo, constructed out of 
 Platonism, Stoicism, Egyptian Mysticism and the Old 
 Testament, is the representative of the world to God 
 and also the representative of God to the world. The 
 Logos is identified by Philo with (1) the Rock that 
 followed Israel in the wilderness: 2 (2) the Image of God: 8 
 
 a Cf. Drummond, op. tit. ii. pp. 222 ff., Zeller, Philosophic der 
 Griechen, iii. 2, pp. 378 ff., and Brehier, Les idees philosophiques 
 et religieuses de Philon^ p. 107. 
 
 2 See below, p. 86. 
 *Deprofug., 19, Mi. 561. 
 
86 HELLENISM AND CHRISTIANITY 
 
 (3) the first man who is the archetypal man: 1 (4) the 
 Son of God and the High Priest: 2 (5) the first-born 
 Son : 3 (6) the Man of God : 4 (7) the Paraclete, 5 and also 
 (8) the Mediator. 6 All of these aspects reappear in the 
 New Testament description of its Christ. This is surely 
 not due to coincidence, but to conscious adaptation. 
 
 The oldest part of the New Testament is to be 
 found in the Epistles of Paul. We must not allow 
 ourselves to be misled by the fact that the Synoptic 
 Gospels are printed in the New Testament before the 
 Pauline Epistles. The arrangement of the books of 
 the New Testament Canon throws no light on their real 
 chronological position. For instance, Matthew, Mark, 
 Luke and John, according to the accepted order 
 obtaining in the printed texts, should be rearranged if 
 historical principles are to be recognized. We should 
 then have Mark, Luke, Matthew and John. There is 
 also one other caution which is necessary when speaking 
 of the Epistles of Paul. Modern scholars are not 
 inclined to accept as genuine all the letters attributed 
 to Paul There are some critics (e.g., van Manen) who 
 would deny the genuineness of any of the Epistles. The 
 consensus of opinion, however, inclines to accept as 
 genuine the four famous Epistles (Romans ; L and ii. 
 
 iDeconf.ling.,2%, Mi. 427 : C.W. ii. p. 247, 146. 
 
 *Desomn.,\. 37, Mi. 653: C.W. iii. 233, 215. 
 
 *Deconf. ling., 14, Mi. 414 : C.W. ii. p. 231, 63. 
 
 *Ibid. 11, Mi. 411 : C.W. ii. p. 226, 41. 
 
 *De vit. Mos., iii. 14, Mii. 155 : C.W. iv. p. 191, 134. See 
 Zeller, op. tit. iii, 2, p. 372 (note 5) and cf. Cohn, Die Werke 
 PMlos., i. 329 (note 1). 
 
 *Quis rer. div. /&., 42, Mi. 501-2 : C.W. iii. p. 39, 205 f. 
 
PHILO AND THE NEW TESTAMENT 87 
 
 Corinthians and Galatians.) Conservative scholars 
 regard the following Epistles, in addition to those just 
 mentioned, as genuine : i. and ii. Thessalonians, 
 Philippians, Colossians, and perhaps Ephesians. 
 
 Paul refers to the rock in the wilderness (Num. 
 xx. 22-11) whence the Israelites obtained water. He 
 writes : " They drank of that spiritual rock that followed 
 them, and that rock was Christ " (L Cor. x. 4). The 
 commentators 1 tell us that Paul was using a Rabbinical 
 fancy. In the Targumin of Onkelos and Jonathan it is 
 a well which followed the Israelites in their wanderings. 
 The Rabbis also said that this miraculous well was one 
 of the things created on the eve of the first Sabbath. 2 The 
 source probably used by Paul was not the Rabbinical 
 interpretation, but Philo who identifies the Rock with 
 the Logos or Wisdom. Philo's view is of interest, 
 because we see that his Logos was not only the Divine 
 Word but also the Divine Wisdom. He identifies the 
 Rock of Deut. (viii. 15) with Wisdom? ("The nurse of 
 those who desire incorruptible food ") ; and the Rock 
 of Deut. (xxxii. 13) he identifies both with Wisdom and 
 the Word or Logos. Paul was surely aware of this 
 interpretation, and the transfer to Christ was easy and 
 immediate. To argue that Paul was using the Rabbinic 
 tradition is unavailing, because according to the Rabbis 
 it was not the Hock that followed the Israelites in their 
 wanderings, but it was the Well (Num. XXL 16) which 
 
 1 See Hiihn, op. tit. p. 172, and Bousset in J. Weiss' Die 
 Schriftcn des N. 71, in loc. p. 100. 
 3 T. B. Pesachira 54a, Aboth v. 9. 
 
 t. dtter.pot, 31, Mi., 213 f. : C.W. p. 265 f. 115, 118. 
 
88 HELLENISM AND CHRISTIANITY 
 
 followed their forefathers. This is our first parallel 
 between Paul's Christ and Philo's Logos. They both 
 identified their Messiah with the rock that gave water 
 to the people of God. 1 
 
 The next parallel is the identification of the Logos 
 and the Christ with the Divine Image, When Paul 
 speaks of Christ as the Image of God (ii. Cor. iv. 4) we 
 are to understand this expression as the more or less 
 complete manifested representation of the Unseen God. 
 Both Philo and Paul speak of God as invisible. The 
 Christ, like the Logos, is the " Image of God," but in 
 what sense ? not of course in outward appearance, for 
 God cannot be seen (CoL L 15), but as the ideal 
 representation of the Divine character, energies and 
 capacities. We have seen how the Wisdom of Solomon 
 (vil 26) describes Wisdom as the image of the good 
 God. Now Philo identifies his Logos with this Wisdom, 
 and therefore he also describes the Logos as the Image 
 of God. 2 Paul applies this appellation to Jesus quite 
 definitely in all the various degrees of his manifestation 
 of God, whether in his pre-existent state (Phil. ii. 6) 
 or in that state of heavenly exaltation in which the 
 Apostle believed he had beheld him. 
 
 The next important parallel between Paul and 
 Philo is the use of the term " the Second Adam " as a 
 description of the Messiah. 3 In Philo there are two 
 
 J The Manna is also identified with the Logos or Messiah by 
 Philo and the New Testament. 
 
 2 See above, p. 86, note 3, and cf. above, p. 69 f. 
 3 See Siegfried, op. at. p. 242. 
 
PHILO AND THE NEW TESTAMENT 89 
 
 Adams ; the one created first was the heavenly Man or 
 the Logos, whilst the other was the earthly man, who 
 sinned and died. In three passages of the generally 
 accepted Epistles of Paul we find a clearly marked 
 antithesis between Adarn, the first man, and the Messiah , 
 who is termed "the Second Adam." The passages are 
 extremely important for the proper understanding of the 
 Pauline Christology. The first reference] is to Romans 
 (v. 12-21), where the universal effect of Adam's sin is 
 contrasted with the universal effect of that " one act of 
 righteousness" of the man Jesus. Adam is called a 
 figure of him that was to come (v. 14). Again : " For as 
 through the one man's disobedience the many were 
 made sinners, even so through the obedience of the one 
 shall the many be made righteous" (ibid. 19). This 
 doctrine is completely at variance with the simple 
 teaching of the Old Testament, namely, that every man 
 is individually responsible for his own transgressions 
 only. Nowhere in the whole of the Hebrew Scriptures 
 or in the Rabbinic writings do we meet with anything 
 like Paul's soteriological doctrines. He was the first 
 theologian to teach that through the first man 1 "sin 
 entered into the world, and death through sin ; and so 
 death passed unto all men, for that all sinned " (ibid. 12), 
 and further, that through the righteousness of Jesus 
 eternal life is bestowed upon the world (ibid. 17). 
 
 1 Cf. the Pharisaic standpoint set forth in the Apocalypse of 
 Baruch (liv. 19), namely that each man is the Adam of his own 
 soul. The teaching of IV. Ezra (vii. 118) to the effect that Adam 
 is the cause of the final perdition of humanity is to be attributed 
 to Christian influence. 
 
90 HELLENISM AND CHRISTIANITY 
 
 In the next Pauline passage (L Cor. xv. 20-22) the 
 same contrast appears between Adam and the Messiah :- 
 " For since by man came death, by man came also the 
 resurrection of the dead. For as in Adam all die, so 
 also in the Messiah (or Christ) shall all be made alive." 1 
 In both passages the second Adam or the Messiah is 
 the head of a new order of humanity. In the third 
 quotation (i. Cor. xv. 44-49) the thought of the Messiah 
 as a second Adam, or the last Adam which was implied 
 in the previous passages, is definitely enunciated. The 
 text is as follows: " If there is a natural body, there is 
 also a spiritual body. So also it is written, The first 
 man Adam became a living soul. The last Adam 
 became a life-giving spirit Howbeit that is not first 
 which is spiritual, but that which is natural ; then that 
 which is spiritual. The first man is of the earth, earthy: 
 the second man is of heaven. As is the earthy, such 
 are they also that are earthy : and as is the heavenly, 
 such are they also that are heavenly. And as we have 
 borne the image of the earthy, we shall also bear the 
 image of the heavenly." 
 
 Paul tries to show that there is a radical difference 
 between the nature of the two Adams, which has a 
 vital bearing on the problem of man's resurrection ana 
 future life. He wishes to prove that it is possible for 
 man to exist in two different states, one far higher than 
 the other. He suggests that this fact is indicated by the 
 Old Testament words : " The first man Adam became a 
 
 M. Cor. xv. 21. 
 
PHILO AND THE NEW TESTAMENT 91 
 
 living soul." 1 He means to imply that the body of the 
 first man became the organ of a psychical nature (LXX 
 etV ifrvxyv )(rav). This made the first man a living 
 being, but not a spiritual being. The second Adam, 
 however, became a life-giving spirit. Paul wishes to 
 convey the idea that the Messiah became the vehicle of 
 a heavenly or spiritual nature. It is only fair to point 
 out that Paul's quotation does not correspond to the 
 Hebrew text. There is no distinction in the Hebrew 
 between the first man and the last man. The original 
 text does not even speak of Adam as the "first 
 man." 
 
 Let us at once ask whether the terms "the last 
 Adam " and the " second man of Heaven," used by Paul, 
 were generally known as Messianic titles in Palestinian 
 Jewish circles in the first century C.E. ? We shall also 
 inquire whether the idea of an antithesis between 
 Adam and the Messiah, each being the head of a new 
 line of descendants, the one mortal and earthy, the other 
 immortal and heavenly, was known in the contemporary 
 Rabbinic schools in the Holy Land. As we shall see, it 
 has been suggested that Paul was indebted to his 
 Rabbinic training under the famous teacher Gamaliel 
 for these Messianic conceptions. 2 
 
 x The LXX of Gen. ii. 7 reads : " And the man became a living- 
 soul" (rrn B"S3). In the same verse we find the expression 
 B"H nosPJ which was translated by irvev^a faoTroiovv (a life- 
 giving spirit) in the version used by Paul. See also Wisdom xv. 
 11, andcf. Hatch, Essays in Biblical Gteek, p. 147 ff. and Voll- 
 mer, op. tit. p. 55. 
 
 2 See Moffatt, Paul and v aulinism, p. 6,f. and Schiele, Die 
 rabb. Parallden zu i. Kor. xv. 45-50, in Zeitschr. f. wiss. Theol. 
 1899, pp. 120 ff. 
 
92 HELLENISM AND CHRISTIANITY 
 
 The real significance conveyed by the designation 
 of Jesus as the second or last Adam is disclosed by the 
 New Testament. The believers in Jesus felt convinced 
 that in Christ they were " a new creation," " partakers 
 of a divine nature" (ii. Cor. v. 17 and ii. P. i. 4). The 
 first Adam had inaugurated the first creation, so now 
 the second Adam had established a new world and a 
 new Kingdom, the Messianic Kingdom. The Messiah of 
 Paul is the Man from Heaven, who is pre-existent 
 (Rom. viii. 3; i. Cor. x. 4, and Gal. iv. 4) ; the head of 
 every man (i. Cor. xi. 3) and the archetypal ideal. His 
 Divine acts include the creation of the universe (Col. L 
 16, 17), the redemption of humanity (Eph. v. 26), the 
 Last Judgment (Rom. xiv. 9, 10), and the restitution or 
 renewal of all things (i. Cor. xv. 24-28). 
 
 It will not escape the attention of the reader that 
 this entire Christology is quite independent of the 
 earthly life, work and teaching of the human Jesus. It 
 is not the teacher, not the miracle-worker, not the 
 reformer who plays any part in this Messianic scheme. 
 Paul's Messiah is a celestial spirit, and not a human 
 being. The Christ of John and of the Epistle to the 
 Hebrews is also a portraiture of a Heavenly pre-existent 
 being without flesh and blood. Paul's Messiah is the 
 Risen Lord, the Man from Heaven, the second Adam. 
 
 It is an admitted fact that it is not the Jesus of 
 history, but rather the superhuman heavenly Christ of 
 faith that forms the basis of Christian worship. 1 The 
 
 1 See Hibbert Journal Supplement (1909), pp. 52ff,59ff, 65 
 189, 213 and 240 f. 
 
PHILO AND THE NEW TESTAMENT 93 
 
 physical man, Jesus, has disappeared and his place has 
 been taken by a metaphysical heaven-exalted being, who 
 bears no likeness to the human teacher of Nazareth. 
 The metaphysical Christ is the sum and substance of 
 the Pauline theology. We have already shown that the 
 terms " Son of Man " and " Son of God " as Messianic 
 titles are quite un-Jewish in their application. "Son of 
 God" in the New Testament has a personal and not an 
 official implication. 
 
 We shall now consider some other Messianic terms 
 used by Paul. He frequently speaks of Jesus as the 
 Lord. Thus in i. Corinthians (viii 5, 6) we read : "For 
 though there be (such) that are called gods, whether in 
 heaven or on earth ; as there are gods many and lords 
 many ; yet to us there is one God, the Father, of whom 
 are all things, and we unto him ; and one Lord, Jesus 
 Christ, through whom are all things, and we through 
 him." The passage is very important for a thorough 
 understanding of the nature and office of the Pauline 
 Messiah. As we shall see it is not an isolated text, for 
 it has many parallels in the four chief Epistles and 
 elsewhere in the New Testament. 
 
 In the first place, the term " Lord " in this passage 
 implies divinity ; Paul does not seem to have been 
 acquainted with the miraculous virgin birth story of 
 Jesiw. He teaches that Jesus became the Son of God 
 on the day of his resurrection (Acts xiii 33). This son- 
 ship communicates divinity to Jesus, who is therefore 
 called "Lord." In the Synoptic Gospels Jesua is 
 sometimes addressed as Lord as a title of respect or 
 
94 HELLENISM AND CHRISTIANITY 
 
 courtesy. 1 In Paul the title is used in the same sense 
 in which the Septuagint uses it of God, and it has the 
 connotation of Godhead. In other words, Paul 
 deliberately applies the Old Testament title of Adonai 
 (Kvpios) to the Messiah, whose apostle he claimed to be. 
 There are many Old Testament passages in the 
 Pauline writings which are intentionally torn from 
 their context and misapplied to the person of the 
 Messiah. 2 Thus, in the Epistle to the Romans the 
 Apostle to the Gentiles urges his adherents to confess 
 Jesus as Lord (x. 9) in order that they may be saved. 
 He bases this injunction upon a passage in the Book of 
 Joel (ii. 32): "Whosoever shall call on the name of 
 the Lord shall be delivered." In the mind of this Old 
 Testament prophet there was no idea of a reference to 
 a Messiah in the phrase, "the name of the Lord." In 
 the article on the Divinity of Christ in Dr. Hastings' 
 D.C.G., i. p. 477, the writer admits that there is a wide 
 gulf between the the first stage in the New Testament 
 use of the word Lord in the sense of Master or Rabbi, 
 and the use in the Epistles. "The transition was probably 
 effected in Hellenistic circles, and (was) aided by the use 
 of Lord as a title of the Roman Emperor and associated 
 with the divine honours paid to him." This frank ad- 
 mission substantiates the position we have adopted in 
 a previous chapter when we claimed that " Son of God " 
 was applied to the Christian Messiah under the influence 
 of Hellenism. The result of this transference of the title 
 
 J See Dalman, Die Wortejesu, pp. 268 ff. 
 
 2 See Garvie, Life and Teaching of Paul, p. 131. 
 
PHILO AND THE NEW TESTAMENT 95 
 
 " Lord " from God to the Pauline Messiah has been 
 seen in Christian worship. God has been displaced 1 and 
 His transcendence has been unduly emphasized. To 
 Jesus worship is offered, and prayers are only addressed 
 to God through the mediatorship of the Son. 
 
 An objection might be raised that as the Greek 
 word for Lord (Kupto?) is ambiguous in its meaning and 
 admits of various applications, it is just possible that 
 Paul did not associate with the word the idea of 
 divinity. Now, in reply, we find that Paul never uses 
 the title of Lord for anyone but Jesus or God. In fact 
 he does not discriminate at all in this double usage. 
 Thus he asks concerning God : " Who hath known the 
 mind of the Lord ? " (Rom. xL 34) ; whereas in the 
 preceding chapter he writes : " If thou shalt confess 
 with thy mouth Jesus as Lord " (ibid. x. 9). According 
 to Dr. Adeney, " in the same discussion Paul will pass 
 quite easily from the one application of the title to the 
 other. It would be worse than carelessness to do this 
 if in the one case divinity were implied and in the other 
 case it were excluded. There are times when to Paul 
 the ideas of God and Christ are blended in the title of 
 " the Lord." Further, with Paul, Christ is " our Lord," 
 " the Lord of Glory " and " the Lord of AIL" "* 
 
 There can be no doubt that Paul united or blended 
 his Messiah with God, and as we shall see, he attributed 
 to Jesus full divinity by declaring him to have been 
 
 1 See Hibbert Journal Supplement (1909), pp. 155 ff. 
 2 The New Testament Doctrine of Christ^ p. 96. 
 
96 HELLENISM AND CHRISTIANITY 
 
 pre-existent, the image of the invisible God, the first-born 
 of all creation, and the last or second Adam, the 
 Heavenly Man. 
 
 We shall examine each term, and endeavour to 
 trace its origin. To discuss in detail the relations 
 between all the ideas involved in these terms is no part 
 of our present task. Nor do we propose here to sum- 
 marize and comment upon the views of the various 
 writers who have dealt with the Pauline Christology. 
 The best course for us to pursue is to let the texts of 
 the New Testament speak for themselves. 
 
 The pre-existence of the Messiah (with whom Paul 
 identifies Jesus) is undoubtedly implied in the following 
 passage : " God sending His own Son in the likeness of 
 sinful flesh" (Rom. viii. 3). The writer is clearly 
 speaking here, not of the sending of an earthly or human 
 Messiah, but of the sending forth of a being, who, up to 
 that time, had not been an earthly man. In consequence 
 of this sending, the Son of God took upon himself the 
 form of sinful flesh by being born of a woman and by 
 being placed under the law. 1 He had, therefore, pre- 
 existed up to that time in a state of spiritual or 
 heavenly being ; he was till then the Son of God. At 
 this point of time when he was sent forth by God 
 "though he was rich, yet for your sakes he became 
 poor, that ye through his poverty might become rich 
 (ii. Cor. viii. 9). " It is," says Pfleiderer, " impossible 
 to refer this to the self-denial of the historical Jesus ; 
 the aorist eTrTu>xew alone would show this, for it 
 
 1 See Feine, Theologie des N. T. (2nd. ed.) p. 263 f. 
 
PHILO AND THE NK\V TESTAMENT 97 
 
 denotes an act done once for all." 1 The argument of 
 Paul may be briefly stated as follows. By abandoning 
 the condition of wealth (i.e., heavenly dignity) in order 
 to enable all who believe in him to participate in the 
 wealth which he had given up, he became poor (i.e. 
 he assumed flesh) for a period, and at his resurrection 
 he resumes his heavenly glory and becomes again the 
 Son of God. It is quite impossible to think of any rich 
 state of Jesus during his earthly life, or of any wealth 
 then renounced by him. He refers, according to the 
 Synoptic Gospels, more than once to his material poverty. 
 Bound up with this Pauline teaching is the doctrine of 
 the Incarnation, and the theory of the Kenosis (or 
 emptying) according to which the pre-existent and 
 eternal Son of God divests himself of his heavenly 
 glory and comes to earth by incarnating himself, 
 assuming here on earth the role of a servant, and 
 enduring the humiliation as man, with the privations 
 and hardships which the service he contemplated 
 rendering would entail 2 
 
 The question at once arises, Where did Paul obtain , 
 this doctrine of a pre-existent Messiah, whose heavenly 
 career is interrupted by a brief existence on earth 
 ending in abject humiliation? We are told by 
 innumerable commentators and theologians that Paul 
 drew his Christology from Rabbinic sources. Does not 
 Paul tell us that he had studied under Gamaliel, the 
 famous Rabbi ? 3 Dr. Adeney refers to Paul's acquaint- 
 
 t-Paulinism, E. T. i. p.p. 137. 
 
 = Cf. Hall, The Kenotic Theory, pp. 52 ff. 
 
 *Actsxxii.3. M 
 
98 HELLENISM AND CHRISTIANITY 
 
 ance with the Jewish apocalyptic writings: "There 
 he had read of the pre-existing Christ, the heavenly 
 man, a glorious being who was expected to come into 
 the world at God's appointed time." 1 It is to be 
 regretted that the learned writer has not mentioned the 
 names of the apocalyptic books read by Paul. We have 
 already mentioned how unfair it is to refer to iv. Ezra 
 and the Similitudes of Enoch. Paul is earlier than 
 iv. Ezra. The Messianic passages in Enoch have, in 
 all probability, been subjected to Christian interpolation. 
 If we ignore these books, can we point to any apoca- 
 lyptic writings which Paul might have read? Our 
 answer is in the negative. We therefore ask, Where in 
 Rabbinic literature is there any notion of a Kenosis ? 
 Did the Jewish apocalyptic writings mention the 
 incarnation of the Son of God ? Is the Messiah of the 
 contemporary Jewish apocalyptic writings " the Lord " 
 or the " Second Adam " or even a suffering Messiah ? 
 All this is entirely alien to the contemporary Jewish 
 apocalyptic literature. There is nothing similar to Paul's 
 Messiah in the Rabbinic writings of his age. Again we 
 ask, Where did he find his Messianic doctrine ? 
 
 The modern Biblical critic is generally inclined to 
 follow the latest theory of Gunkel, Reitzenstein, Alfred 
 Jeremias, or some other eminent authority. The first 
 named scholar holds that a speculation as to the " first 
 man" (Urmensch) was not unknown in the earliest 
 stages of Jewish thought. These scholars believe that 
 
 *Qp. at. p. 70. 
 
PHILO AND THE NEW TESTAMENT 99 
 
 they have discerned in the Old Testament some traces 
 of the ancient myth of the " first man," which had been 
 borrowed by the writers of the Hebrew Bible from 
 some outside source. If the subject we are now con- 
 sidering be somewhat novel, it is nevertheless of the 
 greatest importance. We must try to appreciate the 
 efforts of the great scholars of our own day, who are 
 revealing the secrets of the past. We turn to them in 
 our attempt to discover the origin of the God-man 
 Messiah of Paul and Christianity. It will be of some 
 interest to the reader, who is unable to consult the 
 latest books on the subject (such as Reitzenstein's 
 Poimandres, or Clemen's Religionsgeschichtliche Erkl&r- 
 ung des Neuen Testaments) to have the Old Testament 
 references to the myth of the " first man." Apart from the 
 creation narratives in Genesis, there are two passages 
 which are referred to by the authorities just mentioned. 
 The first passage is in Ezekiel (xxviiL 13f.) : " Thou 
 wast in Eden the garden of God ; every precious stone 
 was thy covering .... thou wast the anointed cherub 
 .... thou hast walked up and down in the midst of the 
 stones of fire." Again, in Job (xv. 7 f.) we read : " Art 
 thou the first man that was bora ? Or wast thou 
 brought forth before the hills ? Hast thou heard the 
 secret counsel of God ? And dost thou restrain wisdom 
 to thyself ? " When we inquire as to the origin of the 
 underlying myth in these passages, we meet with a 
 strange diversity of opinion. Some there are who see 
 in these Old Testament stories reproductions of the 
 
100 HELLENISM AND CHRISTIANITY 
 
 Babylonian myth of Adapa. 1 It is, however, by no means 
 sure that Adapa was the first man according to Baby- 
 lonian mythology. Dr.Bousset goes so far as to reject any 
 connection between the Adapa myth and the Jewish 
 narratives. 2 
 
 Dr.Bonsset prefers to trace the origin of the " first 
 man " to Parsi mythology, which speaks of the first man 
 appearing in the double form of Gayomard and Yima. 
 Gayomard is to undergo a resurrection in which all the 
 rest of mankind will participate. 5 The resurrection is 
 brought about by Soshyans, who also makes the evil 
 spirit impotent. 4 It seems very far fetched to trace the 
 Hebrew conception of the " first man " (or that of the 
 Messiah) from Parsi mythology. Whether the Persians 
 may have had some influence on Hebraic theology 
 is not the point under discussion. We are only con- 
 cerned now with the speculation as to the "first man," 
 and we fail to discover any analogy between the Hebrew 
 and the Parsi stories of the "first man." 5 The subject is 
 far too intricate to be adequately dealt with in this 
 connection. Whatever be the correct interpretation of 
 the texts quoted from Ezekiel and Job, and whether 
 the Hebrew Bible has borrowed and spiritualized 
 Babylonian, Persian or Egyptian myths the fact 
 remains that there is no proof whatsoever that Paul 
 
 1 See Gunkel, Genesis, (2nd ed.) p. 33 ; SchopfungundChaos^ 
 pp. 420 ff., and cf. Clemen, op. cit. p. 119. 
 
 -Cf. Religion dcs Judentums, p. 407. 
 
 3 Sacred Books of the JSast, v. p. 123. 
 
 *>Ibid. p. 33 
 
 5 The Hebrew narrative knows nothing about the resurrection 
 of the " first man, ' neither is this a characteristic of the 
 Messiah of the Old Testament. 
 
PHILO AND THE NEW TESTAMENT 101 
 
 borrowed his Christology from the Old Testament or from 
 the Rabbinic teaching current in Palestine in the first 
 century of the common era. This brings us back to 
 the real question at issue the source of Paul's Chris- 
 tology. Reitzenstein, in his scholarly edition of 
 Poimandres, has drawn attention to several striking 
 parallels between the Christ of Paul and the First Man 
 described by Poimandres. The great problem is to fix 
 the date of the oldest parts of Poimandres. To say 
 with Reitzenstein that they may belong to the century 
 before, or the century after the time of Jesus, is barely 
 sufficient justification for arguing that Paul was 
 influenced by Poimandres. As a matter of fact, the 
 text as we know it belongs to the end of the third 
 century or to the beginning of the fourth century of 
 the common era. If we may venture to hazard a con- 
 jecture as to the nature of the Poimandres literature, 
 we suggest that it belongs to the Egyptian gnosticism 
 and should be classed with the post-Christian writings. 
 It contains Greek and Oriental thought, and has been 
 influenced by Egyptian religious speculations, and also 
 possibly by Jewish and Christian doctrines. If our 
 hypothesis be valid, then we must look for some other 
 source whence Paul obtained his Christology. 
 
 Paul was a native of Tarsus, one of the great 
 centres of Hellenism. We know from the New 
 Testament that he combated the gnosticism which 
 flourished in Alexandria. 1 Was it not the most natural 
 
 J See Hastings' D.B. I. p. 124 f.; II. pp. 187 ff. ; Friedliinder, 
 Die vorchristliche judische Gnosticismus^ pp. 14, 37 and the 
 same writer's Der Antichrist, pp. 108 ff. 
 
102 HELLENISM AND CHRISTIANITY 
 
 thing for a Hellenistic Jew, such as Paul really was, to 
 absorb the best teaching of Hellenistic Judaism that 
 obtained in his day ? Let us not overlook this prob- 
 ability. The books which he read and studied included 
 the Septuagint, the Books of Wisdom and Philo. Most 
 of his quotations from the Old Testament are based on the 
 LXX. There is no evidence to show that he knew or 
 used the original Hebrew text of the Bible. We venture to 
 argue that as Paul was unable to find in the LXX a 
 Christological scheme that included a pre-existent, 
 eternal Son of God, who is the Heavenly Man, the 
 Second Adam, the Image of God, the Second God, 
 sharing in the creation, and acting as Mediator between man 
 and God, he gladly made use of the other Hellenistic 
 writings of the Jews, namely, the Books of Wisdom and 
 Philo, where he found in their Logos-Wisdom specu- 
 lations all that he required for his own Messianic system. 
 We urge once more that the Messiah of Philo is his Logos, 
 and it is chiefly the Logos doctrine of this philosopher 
 which has been used by Paul for his Christology. 
 
 It will be urged that all this theoiy is invalid 
 because modern Christian writers hold that the doctrine 
 of the Messiah was ignored by Philo. 1 Moreover, Dr. 
 Drummond denies that the Logos was Philo's Messiah. 2 
 It is also argued that Paul was on Rabbinic lines in 
 speaking of the Christ as a Second Adam. 3 We can 
 only put the available evidence before the reader, and 
 
 1 Hastings' D.B. ii. 703, and Fairweather, op. cit. p. 361. 
 2 Philo Jucteus, ii. p. 322. 
 
 3 See Hastings' D.C.G., ii. p. 888; D.B. iii. p. 721 and cf. 
 ibid. p. 698. 
 
PHILO AND THE NEW TESTAMENT 103 
 
 it must be left to his judgment to decide whether we 
 have established the following points : (1) Paul knew 
 and used the speculations of the Books of Wisdom and 
 of Philo. (2) That there are no contemporaneous 
 Rabbinic parallels to Paul's Christology, and that any 
 parallels which may be adduced to some particular term 
 or idea are considerably later than the New Testament. 
 (3) That Philo's Logos doctrine contained his Messianic 
 speculation, which arose from his allegorizing method 
 and his attempt to reconcile Jewish thought with 
 Greek philosophy. 
 
 Let us now turn our attention to the Jewish 
 Encylopedia, vol. i. p. 181 f., which attempts to explain 
 Paul's Second Adam by a Midrash found in the 
 Midrash Rabboth, Gen. (viii. 1), written many centuries 
 after the time of Paul. It seems most improbable that 
 Paul should have known this Rabbinic tradition, which, 
 as we shall show, does not at all agree with his specu- 
 lations. The Jewish Encyclopedia calls it an "old 
 Midrash," but there is no date available to justify this 
 description. It would be more correct to say that it is 
 a late Midrash compared with Paul, because it was 
 expounded by R. Simeon ben Lakish (c. 250 C.E.). The 
 Midrash runs : " 'Thou hast formed me behind and 
 before ' (Ps. cxxxix. 5). (This) is to be explained 
 ' before the first and after the last day of Creation. 11 
 For it is said, ' And the Spirit of God moved upon the 
 
 1 See Bacher Die Agada d. Pal. Am. \. p. 413, cf. Tanchuma, 
 Buber, Tsasria 2, and Lev. Rab. xiv. 1, which says : "The 
 Spirit of God moved upon the face of the water " that is the 
 spirit of King Messiah. 
 
104 HELLENISM AND CHRISTIANITY 
 
 face of the waters,' meaning the spirit of the Messiah 1 
 [the spirit of Adam, in the parallel passage, Midrash 
 Teh. to Ps. cxxxix. 5 ; both readings are essentially the 
 same], of whom it is said (Is. xi. 2), ' And the spirit of 
 the Lord shall rest upon him.' This contains the 
 kernel of Philo's philosophical doctrine of the creation 
 of the original man. He calls him the idea of the 
 earthly Adam, while with the Rabbis the (C1N) nil 
 (Spirit of Adam) not only existed before the creation of 
 the earthly Adam, but was pre-existent to the whole of 
 creation.* From the pre-existing Adam, or Messiah, to 
 the Logos is merely a step. 
 
 The above-quoted Midrash is even of greater 
 importance for the understanding of the Pauline Chris- 
 tology, as affording the key to Paul's doctrine of the first 
 and second Adam . . . God created a heavenly Adam in 
 the spiritual world and an earthly one of clay for the 
 material world. The earthly Adam came first into view, 
 although created last. The first Adam was of flesh and 
 blood, and therefore subject to death merely " a living 
 soul " ; the second Adam was " a life-giving spirit " a 
 spirit whose body, like the heavenly beings in general, 
 was only of a spiritual nature. The apparently insuper- 
 able difficulty of the Pauline Christology which 
 
 X R. Simeon b. Lakish also identified "Tohu"(Gen. 1,2) 
 with Babylon, " Bohu " (ibid.) with Media, " darkness" (ibid.) 
 with the kingdom of the Greeks and the "deep" (ibid.) with 
 the impious kingdom (Rome), see Gen. Rab. ii. 4. 
 
 2 The Rabbis never taught that the spirit of Adam was pre- 
 existent to the whole of creation. They believed that prior to 
 the creation of Adam recorded in Gen. i., there had been many 
 attempts on the part of God to create the universe, see my 
 Rabbinic Philosophy and Ethics > p. 199, note 1. 
 
PHILO AND THE NEW TESTAMENT KX5 
 
 confronts the expounders of the New Testament (see, 
 for instance, Holtzmann, Lehrbuch der Neu- Testament- 
 lichen Theologie, ii. p. 75 ff.) disappears entirely when 
 reference is made to the Midrash. As a pupil of 
 Gamaliel, Paul simply operates with conceptions 
 familiar to the Palestinian theologians. Messiah, as the 
 Midrash remarks, is, on the one hand, the firtt Adam, 
 the original man tcho existed before Creation, his spirit 
 being already present On the other hand, he is also 
 the second Adam 1 in so far as his bodily appearance 
 followed the Creation, and inasmuch as, according to 
 to the flesh, he is of the posterity of Adam. Paul, there- 
 fore, has not depended upon Philo for his Christology 
 as most scholars hold ; indeed, he differs from him on 
 most essential points. With Philo the original man 
 is an idea. With Paul he (the original man) is the 
 personality of Jesus. 2 With Philo the first man is the 
 original man ; Paul identifies the original man with the 
 second Adam." Tims far the Jewish Encyclopedia. 
 
 The writer has constructed a very plausible 
 argument; but if we examine it, we shall find that it has 
 no foundation, because he admits in his next sentence 
 that the Palestinian theology was indebted to 
 Alexandria for the theory of pre-existence. This is 
 of fundamental importance ; the Jewish Messiah is not 
 a pre-existing being, but a descendant of David. 
 
 1 Note how the first Adam is identified here with the second 
 Adam a notion quite alien to the teaching of Paul and Philo. 
 
 2 It must not be forgotten that Paul never knew Jesus as a 
 person and declared that he did not wish to know him " after 
 
 he flesh " (ii. Cor. v. 16). 
 
106 HELLENISM AND CHRISTIANITY 
 
 Paul's Messiah, who was not a descendant of David, 
 is identified with Philo's pre-existing Logos. Again, 
 Dr. Ginzberg, who is the author of this article in the 
 Jewish Encyclopedia, contradicts himself in several 
 points. He argues (p. 182a) that with Philo the 
 original man is an idea ; but on the previous page 
 (181a) he had stated that the original man of Philo was 
 neither " 'man nor woman,' which is to be explained by 
 the notion that the original man was an Androgynos 
 according to the Rabbis." This very word "Androgynos" 
 is Greek, and betrays at once its origin. He also adds : 
 " It has been said that the Midrash already speaks of the 
 spirit of the first Adam or of the Messiah, without 
 however absolutely identifying Adam and Messiah " ; 
 nevertheless, the whole of Dr. Ginzberg's argument is 
 based on the assumption that Adam is identified by the 
 Midrash with the Messiah, which he himself admits has 
 no sure foundation. 1 He also acknowledges that Philo 
 was the first to use the expression " original man " or 
 " heavenly man " as being born in the image of God, 
 with " no participation in any corruptible or earth-like 
 substance" which belongs to the earthly man. 2 In Philo 
 we find an absolute distinction between the two classes of 
 
 1 He has already urged that the Messiah is the First Adam 
 according to the Midrash ; this is a mere assumption. The 
 Midrash does not say that the Spirit of the Messiah or of Adam 
 was " pre-existent to the -whole of Creation." The spirit was 
 moving upon the face of the deep, i.e. after the beginning of 
 creation, for the deep was part of the creation. 
 
 2 See de Leg. Alleg. i. xii., Mi. 49 : C.W. i. p. 58 31. 
 
PHILO AND THE NEW TESTAMENT 107 
 
 men. 1 One is heavenly, the other is earthly. Indeed, 
 according to the Rabbis, the spirit of the earthly Adam 
 existed before the creation of the man Adam. 2 But 
 the Midrash does not speak at all about the creation 
 of the Heavenly Adam as opposed to the earthly Adam. 
 This is Philo's original thought and is unknown to the 
 Midrash. If the late Midrash explains the text : "And the 
 Spirit of God moved upon the face of the waters " as 
 referring to the spirit of the Messiah, where do we find 
 in Rabbinic literature of the first century that the 
 Messiah is the first Adam ? This is really the crucial 
 question. Dr. Ginzberg suggests that this was taught 
 to Paul by Gamaliel, but all this is clever guess-work. 
 The Midrash does not say that the Messiah is the first 
 Adam. It is also not quite fair to place a variant 
 reading in the very late Midrash on the Psalms in the 
 mouth of Gamaliel 3 
 
 Wetstein, Lightfoot and other eminent Hebraists, 
 who have ransacked the Rabbinic literature for parallels 
 to the New Testament, were wise in ignoring this 
 Midrash. It cannot be regarded as a legitimate 
 parallel to Philo's teaching, nor does it afford a key to 
 
 1 This is also Paul's view. The only difference between 
 Philo and Paul lies in the order (see i. Cor. xv. 45 f.). In point 
 of time the first man was Adam, who sinned and is therefore 
 earthly or natural. The Messiah was held by Paul to be sinless 
 and therefore of a spiritual or heavenly nature and in point of 
 time o/krAdam and therefore the second Adam. 
 
 -According to Rabbinic teaching the soul of every human 
 being exists prior to the creation of the body, see T. B 
 Chagiga, 12 b. 
 
 3 It is equally unfair to combine from the variant readings the 
 notion that Adam = Messiah 
 
108 HELLENISM AND CHRISTIANITY 
 
 Paul's Ckristology. On one other point we disagree 
 with Dr. Ginzberg, who said that most scholars hold 
 that Paul was dependent upon Philo for his Christology. 
 This is by no means the case. Nearly all the New 
 Testament commentators, especially of the English 
 School, have assumed that Paul's description of Jesus 
 as the second Adam was a common Rabbinic title for 
 the Messiah. They generally refer to Schb'ttgen : thus 
 the late Dean Stanley, in his Commentary on 
 i Cor., p. 316, points to the " Rabbinical doctrine that 
 Christ was the second Adam." ..." The last Adam is the 
 Messiah." This last quotation is said to be from a book 
 called "Neve Shalom," p. 160 b. 1 The author of this 
 book, R. Abraham ben Isaac Shalom, who died in 1492, 
 writes as follows : "The Messiah will be the last 
 to remove sin ... He will be higher than Moses, 
 higher than the ministering angels . . . and the old 
 sin, by which death has been introduced, will be 
 abolished by him . . . This was the divine intention at 
 the creation of man, that he should be eternal, but sin 
 occasioned death. Now the divine intention will be 
 fulfilled by King Messiah, who is the antitype of the 
 first Adam." Such modem scholars as Sanday and 
 Headlam 2 speak of " the Rabbinical designation of the 
 Messiah as the second or the last Adam." Again, 
 Mr. H. A. A. Kennedy writes : " He (Paul) was 
 evidently versed in that Adam theology which seems 
 
 1 Also quoted by C. F. G. Heinrici, Der erste Brief an die 
 Korinthen (Meyer's Commentary) 1896, p. 496. 
 2 Romans, p. 136. 
 
PHILO AND THE NEW TESTAMENT 109 
 
 to have been current in the Rabbinic schools of the 
 day." 1 
 
 In the well-known book of Mr. H. St. John 
 Thackeray, entitled " The Relation of St. Paul to Con- 
 temporary Jewish Thought," an attempt is made to deal 
 with the questions which now confront us. Mr. 
 Thackeray points out that " it has hitherto been 
 assumed by nearly all commentators that Paul, in 
 describing Christ as a second Adam was using a 
 common Rabbinic title for the Messiah " (p. 41). After 
 examining the evidence adduced by Weber, Schiele and 
 Moore, Mr. Thackeray admits that this assumption 
 rests on a very slender foundation. The ordinary 
 interpretation is based on Rabbinic passages that belong 
 to the Middle Ages, and have been influenced by the 
 Kabbala. 2 There are, however, not a few German 
 critics who hold the view that in Paul's second Adam 
 we have a form of Philo's teaching. Philo is acknow- 
 ledged to be older than the Jewish traditions of a 
 first and last Adam. What Paul did was probably 
 to combine Philo's idea of an archetypal man whose 
 creation is described in Genesis i. with the doctrine of 
 the pre-existence of the Messiah, which had already 
 been foreshadowed in the Greek Books of Wisdom. 
 This theory is favoured by Holtzmann, Schmiedel, 
 Siegfried and Schiele. 
 
 Philo and Paul both speak of the ideal and 
 
 *St. Paufs Conceptions of the Last Things, p. 310. 
 -Christianity has also left its mark on some of this mediaeval 
 Jiterature of Israel. 
 
110 HELLENISM AND CHRISTIANITY 
 
 heavenly Adam as the image of God, and as imperish- 
 able or eternal Therefore the Christ of IPaul (who 
 is also the heavenly Adam) overcomes death because he 
 is eternal. We should also note that Philo antici- 
 pates Paul by making a division of mankind into two 
 classes : (1) Men who live by the divine spirit, they 
 are the Pneumatics. (2) Men who follow the flesh, 
 they are the Psychics. These men are earthy, whereas 
 the other men, the Pneumatics, are the accurate copy 
 of the divine image, the Logos, or the Christ. It is 
 extremely doubtful whether the Jews in the time of 
 Paul believed in the doctrine of the pre-existence of 
 the Messiah. The orthodox Jews of Palestine 
 certainly did not. "The early Rabbinic doctrine," 
 says Mr. Thackeray (p. 47), "seems merely to have 
 taught an ideal, not a real pre-existence of the Messiah, 
 that is to say, he pre-existed in the sense that his 
 coming had from eternity been divinely predestined and 
 prepared. 1 " The pseud-epigraphic writings do not differ 
 very considerably from the Rabbinic doctrine just 
 described. The Book of Enoch stands alone in teaching 
 a real pre-existence. 2 The Messiah is there said to have 
 been chosen, hidden and preserved and his name to 
 have been named before the creation of the world. 
 The question arises Is this perhaps a post-Christian 
 interpolation ? Whatever be the answer to this question, 
 it would be unfair to assume that Palestinian Jewish 
 
 a See Weber, Jiidische Theologie, p. 355 and Stanton, Jewish 
 and Christian Messiah, p. 129-133. 
 
 2 See especially ch. xlviii. 1-7 with Dr. Charles' note, and also 
 ch. bcii. 7, but see above, pp. 13 ff. 
 
PHILO AND THE NEW TESTAMENT 111 
 
 thought in the time of Paul included this doctrine of 
 the pre-existence of the Messiah merely on the strength 
 of a single passage in the Jewish apocalyptic writings. 
 The use of the phrase " the anointed whom the Most 
 High had reserved for the end" 1 expresses only the 
 divine predestination of the Messiah. 
 
 We submit that the Pauline Messiah had its roots 
 in the speculations of Philo and the Jewish Hellenistic 
 literature. We have already seen 2 that Paul refers to 
 Christ as the image of God (ii. Cor. iv. 4), and this 
 expression CIKUIV is a common term in Philo, as 
 applied not only to "man made in the image of God," but 
 as applied also to the Logos. 3 In one passage the Logos 
 is called by Philo 4 the image and angel of God, for the 
 sake of enabling men to learn the truth about God. 
 In Col. i. 15-23, Christ is represented as the image of 
 the invisible God "the idea" says the Westminster New 
 Testament in loc., "is that He is not merely like God, 
 but that He is God manifest." He is also called the 
 first-born in this Epistle, and the commentary just 
 quoted tells us that : " Among the Jews the word 
 (first-born) was one of the titles of the Messiah. The 
 Rabbis interpreted first-born in Ps. Ixxxix. 27, as Mes- 
 sianic." It can hardly be doubted that the Pauline 
 designation of the Messiah as the first-born and the 
 
 1 zV. Esd. xii- 32 and cf. xiii. 26. Box, The Ezra Apocalypse^ 
 pp. 273, 293 urges that the pre-existent heavenly Messiah is 
 referred to in these contexts. 
 
 2 See above, p. 88. 
 
 s De Plant. xi. ML 336 : C. W. ii. p. 133, 44, and 
 Drummond, op. cit. ii. p. 187, and cf. Wisdom vii. 26. 
 
 *>De Somn. \. xli. Mi. 656 : C. W. iii. p. 237, 239. 
 
112 HELLENISM AND CHRISTIANITY 
 
 image of God is based on Philo's interpretation of the 
 first chapter of Genesis. If this be the case, is it not 
 probable that Paul also borrowed the other terms for his 
 Messiah from Philo's categories of the Logos ? We 
 are now confronted by the question Is any connection 
 to be traced between the teaching of Philo as to the 
 first and second man and Paul's first and last Adam ? 
 Philo writes: "The races of men are two-fold, 
 for one is the heavenly man and the other the earthly 
 man. Now the heavenly man, as being born in the image 
 of God, has no participation in any corruptible or earth- 
 like substance. 1 Elsewhere Philo draws a distinction 
 between the first man made in the image of God and 
 the man generated now. The former was an idea or a 
 genus, perceptible only by the intellect, incorporeal, 
 neither male nor female, imperishable by nature ; 
 whereas the latter (ordinary men) consist of body and 
 soul, by nature mortal. 2 
 
 Schmiedel, in Holtzmann's Commentary on i. Cor. 
 xv. 45, says that the Rabbinic designation of the 
 Messiah jnnRn D"IN (the last Adam) was present to 
 Paul's mind although there is no proof available at 
 present that this was a contemporary term. Surely, 
 then, it is more logical to argue from that which we 
 know to be positive and established, and therefore we 
 must consider that Philo is the source of this Messianic 
 category. The reasons why Philo's parallel is not 
 
 *De Leg. Alleg. \. xii. Mi. 49 : C. W. i. p. 58, 31. 
 *De Opif. Mundi, xlvi. Mi. 32 : C. W. i. p. 38 134, see also 
 Siegfried, Philo, p. 284 and Drummond, op. tit., p. 275. 
 
PHILO AND THE NEW TESTAMENT 113 
 
 accepted by Schmiedel and other commentators 1 are as 
 follows:- (a) Philo's first Adam is Paul's last Adam ; 2 
 (b) Philo's first Adam is identified with the Logos, where- 
 as Paul's last Adam is identified with the Christ ; (c) 
 Paul's first and last Adams are associated with historical 
 personages, whereas Philo is merely contrasting the 
 ideal with the actual man. In reply to all this, we 
 would urge that Paul's last Adam is really the same 
 as Philo's first Adam, because the last Adam or the 
 Christ is assumed by Paul to have been pre-existent and, 
 therefore, is identical with Philo's ideal pre-existent 
 archetypal man. Secondly, it is true that Philo's 
 heavenly or first Adam is identified with the Logos, but 
 Paul's heavenly man or last Adam is also identified with 
 the Logos by the Fourth Gospel and the author of the 
 Epistle to the Hebrews, and finally, it is a debatable point 
 whether Paul is concerned at all with the historical 
 Jesus in his Christology. 3 Dr. Wendland 4 observes that 
 when the Logos doctrine gams the dominant place it 
 overshadows the Messiah theology ; this clearly applies 
 to the Pauline doctrine of Christ, which overshadows 
 the historical life and teaching of Jesus. 
 
 Philo writes : " So that the race of mankind 
 is two-fold ; the one being the race of those who live by 
 the divine spirit (irvev/jia) and reason, the other of 
 those who exist according to blood and the pleasure of 
 
 J See Hastings' D.C.G., ii. p. 51 a. 
 3 See above, p. 107, note 1. 
 
 8 See Bruckner, Die Entstehung der Paulinischen Christologie 
 pp. 63 ff. 
 
 *Op. dt. p. 143. 
 
 I 
 
114 HELLENISM AND CHRISTIANITY 
 
 the flesh. This species is formed of the earth, but 
 that other is an accurate copy of the Divine Image. 1 
 Paul also divides men into those of the spirit and 
 those of the body or flesh (Rom. viii. 3 ff.). 
 
 Philo continues : " For there are, as it seems, two 
 temples of God ; one being this world, in which the 
 High Priest is the Divine Logos, His own first-born 
 son ; the other is the rational soul, the priest of which 
 is the true man, whose perceptible representation is he 
 who offers his ancestral prayers and sacrifices ; to 
 whom it is enjoined to put on the aforesaid tunic, the 
 representation of the universal Heaven, in order that 
 the world may join with the man in offering sacrifice, 
 and that the man may likewise co-operate with the 
 universe." 2 
 
 " For we say that the High Priest is not a man, 
 but the Divine Logos " 3 
 
 " For God is his Father (who is also the Father of 
 all things) and Wisdom is his Mother ; through 
 whom the Universe came into being ; and also 
 because he is anointed with oil, by which I mean that 
 the principal part of him is illuminated with a light 
 like the beams of the sun, so as to be thought worthy 
 to be clothed with garments. And the most ancient 
 Logos of the living God is clothed by the world as with 
 a garment .... For the Logos of the living God is the 
 bond of everything, holding all things together and 
 
 *Quts rer. div. h. 12, Mi. 481 : C. W. iii. p. 11, 57. 
 *Dc Somn. i. 37, Mi. p. 653 : C.W. iii. p. 233, 215. 
 z De Profugis^ 20, Mi., p. 562. 
 
PHILO AND THE NEW TESTAMENT 115 
 
 binding all the parts, and prevents them from being 
 dissolved and separated." 1 
 
 These few passages afford several parallel thoughts 
 to the Pauline and New Testament Messianic idea. 
 We have already mentioned 2 the remarkable application 
 on the part of the New Testament writers of 
 Philo's theory that the Messiah is the High Priest 
 The only other pre-Christian book in which this idea 
 occurs is the Testaments of the Twelve Patriarchs. 3 
 
 Philo's Logos or Messiah has God for his Father 
 and Wisdom for his Mother. As we have already 
 seen, the Book of Wisdom identifies Wisdom with the 
 Holy Spirit ; 4 it is therefore on the Philonian scheme of 
 the Wisdom-Logos-Messiah that the " Gospel according 
 to the Hebrew*" Fragment 2, speaks as follows of the 
 flight of Jesus to Mount Tabor : " The Holy Spirit, my 
 Mother . . . carried me away to the high Mount 
 Tabor." 5 
 
 According to Philo the Universe arrived at creation 
 through the Logos, who is also the bond holding all 
 things together. This description of the Logos re- 
 appears in the New Testament The Christ not only 
 creates the universe, but he also holds it together. 
 i Cor. viiL 6 teaches that Creation is due to the Christ 
 He is the gaol as well as the explanation of all creation. 
 
 2 See above, p. 81. 
 
 3 Test Reub. vi. 8 and Test Lcvi viii. 14 ; see Charles' 
 introduction, p. xcvii. Schnapp in Kautzsch's Pseudepigraphen 
 pp. 463, 467 regards these passages as Christian interpolations. 
 
 *See above, p. 72. 
 
 5 See Hennecke's Neutestamentliche Apokryphen, p. 19. 
 
116 HELLENISM AND CHRISTIANITY 
 
 He is the bond which holds the whole fabric of men 
 and things together. This is the doctrine of the Divine 
 immanence (Col. i. 17), and sets forth Christ as the 
 eternally existent Creative Principle in all things. 1 
 There is just one more parallel between Philo and Paul 
 in the Philonian description of the Logos which we 
 have been considering. Philo describes the Logos as 
 illuminated with a light like the beams of the sun. The 
 Christ seen by Paul is described in Acts (xxvL 13) 
 as " a light from heaven, above the brightness of the 
 sun." Such parallels are not to be attributed to chance, 
 or to Paul's acquaintance with Midrashic teaching, such 
 as was taught in the school of Gamaliel The Messianic 
 doctrines in the Palestinian schools in the time of Paul 
 were on entirely different lines. The Rabbis opposed 
 the mythologizing influence which they detected in the 
 apocryphal and apocalyptic literature of Jewish Hel- 
 lenism. They apprehended the danger to pure mono- 
 theism that was bound to ensue, if they countenanced 
 the teaching of the Alexandrine school. "The 
 redemptive mission of Wisdom (Wisd. ix. 17 f.) 
 develops into an unmistakable avatar doctrine, wherein 
 Wisdom becomes incarnate, and dwells among men, 2 or 
 even descends to the underworld to " visit all that sleep, 
 and shine upon all that hope in the Lord." 3 Rejected 
 by men, she ascends again to her seat in heaven (Enoch 
 
 1 Hastings' D.CG., i. 382. 
 
 -Bar. iii. 37, cf. Oxyrh. Frgts. Log. iii. 
 
 *Sir. xxiv. 32, Lat. ; cf. pseudo- Isaiah, ap. Iren. Haer. Ill, 
 xx. 4 and Eph. v. 14. 
 
PHILO AND THE NEW TESTAMENT 117 
 
 xlii. 1), whence she returns to be poured out upon the 
 elect in the Messianic age" (ibid. xlix. I). 1 
 
 The rivalry of Church and Synagogue which arose in 
 Palestine after the destruction of the Temple in 70 C.E. 
 was marked by the hostility displayed by the Pharisaic 
 teachers towards the Wisdom-Logos-Christ literature 
 and doctrines. From this period onward, the Rabbis 
 rigidly restricted the personification of the Logos- 
 Wisdom to the Torah. 2 All kinds of speculation 
 (Ma'aseh Bereshith and Ma'aseh Merkabah) as well as 
 the reading of non-canonical books were rigidly 
 suppressed. 3 
 
 To return to Philo : " Why, then, do we any longer 
 wonder, if God at times assumes the likeness of the 
 angels, as He sometimes assumes the likeness of men 
 .... for as those who are not able to see the 
 sun itself, look upon the reflected rays of the sun as the 
 sun itself .... so also do those who are unable to bear 
 the sight of God, look upon His image, His angel Logos, 
 as upon Himself." 4 
 
 1 D.C.G. ii. p. 825. Here is a pre-Christian Jewish scheme 
 involving (1) incarnation, (2) descent into Hades and (3) ascen- 
 sion. This scheme was transferred to the Christ of the New 
 Testament, which also speaks of (1) the incarnation (John i. 
 14-18) ; (2) the descent into Hades (Rom. x. 7 ; Eph. iv. 9) and 
 (3) the ascension (Acts i. 1-12). 
 
 -Aboth, iii. 14 and vi. 10. 
 
 3 The influence of the Logos doctrines may be traced in the 
 cult of Michael who is not only the chief of the Angels, but 
 also the heavenly High Priest, the intercessor on behalf of man 
 and the vanquisher of the Antichrist. The mystical literature 
 of the Jews (e.g. the Zohar) has been greatly influenced by 
 the Logos doctrines. 
 
 Somn. I. xli. Mi. 656: C.W. iii. p. 237 238, 239 
 
118 HELLENISM AND CHRISTIANITY 
 
 Paul's Christ is God, who assumed the likeness of 
 man ; and all who look upon him, behold the glory of 
 God. This is exactly what Philo says of the Logos. 
 
 In another passage Philo writes : " (And Moses) 
 also speaks most carefully, not representing the man 
 who was made after God's own image, but the man 
 who was formed of clay, as the one who was placed in 
 the Paradise. For the one who was impressed with 
 the spirit (Trveu/ua) after the image of God, does, as it 
 appears to me, in no respect differ from the tree which 
 bore the fruit of immortal life. For they are both 
 incorruptible and have both been thought worthy of the 
 most central position and most sovereign portion, for it 
 is said that " the tree of life is in the midst of Paradise " 
 (Gen. ii. 9). 1 
 
 Here we have the earthly man contrasted with 
 the spiritual man. The mark of the latter is disclosed 
 by three characteristics : (1) He is made in the image 
 of God : (2) he is stamped with the spirit of God : and 
 (3) he is incorruptible and is like the tree which bore 
 the fruit of everlasting life. The Christ of Paul and the 
 other New Testament writers possesses all these 
 categories. John describes the Logos-Christ as "the 
 spirit of truth" (xiv. 17). 2 Reitzenstein 3 points out that 
 even Egyptian theology had crowned the god Thoth with 
 the attribute of the eternal truth of the Logos. We 
 have already seen how the New Testament has spoken 
 
 * De Plant, xi. Mi. 337: C.W. ii. p. 133 44 and cf. Wisd. vii. 26. 
 2 See Hastings' D.C.G. i. p. 742 a, and cf. John iii. 6. 
 z Zwei religionsgesch. Frozen, pp. 56, 80 f. 
 
PHILO AXD THE NEW TESTAMENT 119 
 
 of the Christ as being the Image of God and as 
 being eternal or immortal. The comparison with the 
 tree of everlasting life has also its parallel in the New 
 Testament, where the Christ is called the Vine (Jn. 
 xv. 1-10), and all who believe in him will enjoy eternal 
 life. 
 
 Can there be the least doubt that in the following 
 passage Philo is referring to the doctrine of the 
 Messiah ? 
 
 'Tor there is a two-fold kind of Dayspring (avaroXri) 
 in the soul, the one of a better sort, the other of a 
 worse sort .... 
 
 "And God planted a Paradise in Eden, towards 
 the Dayspring" (Gen. ii. 8) not of terrestial plants but of 
 celestial virtues, which the Planter caused to spring up 
 from the incorporeal light which exists around Him, in 
 such a way as to be for ever inextinguishable. I have 
 also heard of one of the companions of Moses having 
 uttered such a speech as this : " Behold a man whose 
 name is the Dayspring " (Zech. vi. 12). A very strange 
 appellation indeed, if you consider it as spoken of a 
 man who is compounded of body and soul ; but if you 
 look upon it as applied to that incorporeal man 
 who in no respects differs from the Divine Image, you 
 will agree that the name of Dayspring has been given to 
 him most appropriately. For the Father of the Universe 
 has caused him to spring up as His eldest son, whom, in 
 in another passage, he named the First-born: and he who 
 is thus born, imitating the ways of the Father, has 
 
120 HELLENISM AND CHRISTIANITY 
 
 formed such and such species looking to his archetypal 
 patterns." 1 
 
 Paul's Messiah is also called the First-born (Ro. 
 viii. 29 and Col. i. 15 and 18.) 
 
 Again, Philo refers to the Logos as the great 
 Archangel 2 of many names, for he is called the Beginning 
 (apxh) an( l the Name of God. 3 Paul lays great stress 
 on the headship of the Christ (i. Cor. xi. 3). In 
 Revelations (iii. 14) Jesus is called the " Beginning." 
 
 The Logos of Philo is also a Mediator between 
 
 God and the World. Concerning its mediating position 
 he says : 
 
 " The Father who generated the universe gave a 
 special gift to the Archangel, the most ancient 
 Logos, that standing on the borders it should 
 separate the created from the Creator .... And it 
 exults in the gift .... saying, ' And I stood between 
 the Lord and you ' (Deut. v. 5), being neither 
 unbegotten as God nor begotten as you, but in the 
 middle between the extremes, serving as a pledge to 
 both ; on the side of Him who planted, for a security 
 that the race will never wholly vanish and depart .... 
 and on the side of that which has grown, for a 
 good ground of hope that the propitious God will never 
 
 Confus. Ling. 14, Mi. p. 414 ; C.W. ii. pp. 230 f. 60-63. 
 Philo identifies here the Logos with the Jewish Messiah fiGX 
 (avaroX//). This title (avaroAv) is applied to the Christ of the 
 New Testament in Luke i. 78, see also Targum to Zech. vi. 12 
 and to Isaiah iv. 2, where nov is referred to the Messiah. 
 
 2 See i. Thess. iv. 16 where the "Archangel" is associated 
 with the Christ. 
 
 Con/us. Ling, xxviii. Mi. p. 426 : C.W. ii. p. 247 146. 
 
PHILO AND THE NEW TESTAMENT 121 
 
 overlook His own work." 1 The mediatorship of the 
 New Testament Christ is fundamental to its teaching. 2 
 If these many instances of similar ideas and 
 functions which belong to Philo's Logos as well as to 
 the New Testament Messiah have not convinced the 
 reader of the dependence of the New Testament upon 
 Philo and his sources (LXX and the Books of Wisdom) it 
 would be futile to add to the illustrations we have already 
 adduced. Suffice it to say that we have by no means 
 exhausted the list of parallels. 
 
 We will leave the specific doctrine of the New 
 Testament Messiah in order to draw attention to a few 
 remarkable parallels between Philo and the historical 
 life and work attributed to Jesus in the Gospels. 
 
 We have discussed at length in our first chapter 
 the influence to be attributed a to Hellenism in accounting 
 for the Nativity stories in the Gospels. Philo is, to a 
 certain extent, under the spell of Hellenistic ideas when 
 he seeks to show that it was God who made Sarah, 
 Leah, Rebecca and Zipporah, to be fruitful. Though 
 this does not teach Virgin-birth, it certainly teaches 
 Divine generation. True, Philo designates this doctrine 
 a mystery or a sacred revelation, in other words, 
 something quite new. 3 
 
 Attention has been drawn by the present writer 
 to the many parallels to the Sermon on the Mount 
 which are to be found in Philo, in the Jewish Sources 
 
 ^Quisrer. di-v. h. 42, Mi. SOI -2: C.W. iii. p. 39 205 f. 
 2 Gal. iii. 13, and see Hastings' D.C.G. ii., sub.voc., Mediator. 
 3 See De Clierub. 13, Mi. 180 f : C.W. i. p. 179 44 ff. 
 
122 HELLENISM AND CHRISTIANITY 
 
 of the Sermon on the Mount. There are one or two 
 points which have not been discussed in this book. 
 Several times Jesus says : " But I say unto 
 you." This is explained as a token of the authority 
 vested in Jesus. The Rabbis were accustomed 
 to say Such a tradition have I received from my 
 master. Philo has the very phrase used by Jesus: 
 "But I say unto you." 1 
 
 Paul repeats the formula in GaL v. 2. 
 
 Philo was as keen on the purity of the moral life of 
 man as Jesus. The well-known words of the Sermon : 
 " And if thy right eye causeth thee to stumble, pluck it 
 out and cast it from thee " (Mt v. 29), have their parallel 
 in Philo : "It seems to me," he writes, " that those who 
 are not entirely uneducated would rather be blinded than 
 see things which they ought not, be deafened than hear 
 injurious words, and have their tongue cut out to pre- 
 vent them from giving utterance to anything that ought 
 not to be spoken." 2 Both teachers prefer blindness to 
 seeing wickedness. 
 
 We have shown elsewhere 3 how Luke was 
 indebted to Philo for his Parable of the Prodigal 
 Son. Finally, the Story of the Crucifixion has a very 
 close parallel in Philo, to which attention has been drawn 
 in the Preface to the Jewish Sources of the Sermon on the 
 Mount. The Barabbas of the Gospels is due to the 
 Karabas of Philo. 
 
 i-Quoddet. pot. 43 Mi. 221 : C.W. i. p. 275, 158. 
 *Ibid. 48, Mi. 224 : C.W. i. p. 279 175. 
 * The Gt ace of God, pp. 24 ff. 
 
PHILO AND THE NEW TESTAMENT 123 
 
 What is the position of Philo with reference to 
 Judaism ? This question must be briefly answered in 
 view of the extraordinary statements in Mr. Norman 
 Bentwich's book on Philo. This scholar (p. 8) tells us 
 that " The favour which the Church Fathers showed to 
 his writings induced and was balanced by the neglect of 
 the Rabbis." This is hardly consistent with historical 
 facts. The Rabbis combated the Philonian philosophy 
 long before any of the Church Fathers lived. When the 
 latter found how hostile the Rabbis were to Philo they 
 turned to his writings for apologetic purposes. 
 
 To say that "Philo's thought is through and through 
 Jewish" is to call Greek Hebrew. 1 Philo's entire 
 philosophy is un- Jewish. His doctrine of the Logos is 
 Greek. Unlike the teaching of the Torah of a ereatio ex 
 nihilo, he speaks of a creation out of ^ o\, ( formless mat- 
 ter) just as Plato had taught. Philo was probably ignor- 
 ant of Hebrew and never refers to the great declaration 
 of the Jewish Faith. "Hear O Israel, the Lord is 
 our God, the Lord is one." I am unable to accept 
 Mr. Bentwich's view that "Jewish influences throughout 
 are the determining element of Philo's teaching" 
 (p. [189). We have to admit that Greek influences 
 were the determining factor that produced his theology 
 and philosophy. If Mr. Bentwich had examined in 
 detail the doctrine of the Logos, even allowing for 
 possible interpolations on the part of the Church, it 
 
 1 See Siegfried, op. tit. p. 159 and Hastings' D.C.G. i. p. 
 796a (which states : " Philo's idea of God is Jewish only in 
 name. It is essentially Greek "). 
 
124 HELLENISM AND CHRISTIANITY 
 
 would be very hard to defend his position that Philo's 
 theology "was essentially true to Judaism" (p. 166). 
 
 Philo attempted the impossible when he tried to 
 reconcile Jewish theology with Greek philosophy. Plato 
 was as great a master to Philo as Moses. Moreover, Philo 
 only knew the Septuagint, which he believed to be 
 inspired. His entire thought is more Greek than 
 Jewish. He tries to fit Greek ideas into the Jewish 
 Scriptures. What he reads out of the Bible is more 
 often Greek philosophy instead of Hebrew Religion. 
 
 Mr. Bentwich does not question the following 
 words of Philo, " The Logos is the God of us imper- 
 fect people, but the true sages worship the One Being " 
 (L.A. iii. 73). This is typical of Philo's teaching. How 
 can we speak of such teaching as Jewish ? 
 Shall we be unjust in denying Mr. Bentwich's 
 dictum : " Philo's theology is essentially true to 
 Judaism"? It was essentially opposed to Monotheism 
 and the entire Jewish idea of God. 
 
 It would not, however, be right to charge Philo with 
 disloyalty to Judaism. His motive was undoubtedly 
 genuine. He desired to defend his Faith and to give the 
 best of the Judaism which he knew and loved to the 
 heathen Greeks in whose midst he lived. He was a 
 good Hellenistic Jew, but like the Liberal Jews of 
 to-day he was more liberal than a traditional and 
 historical religion, such as Judaism, could possibly admit; 
 if it was not to be weakened by alliance with teaching 
 hostile to the eternal facts on which it is based. 
 
PHILO AND THE NEW TESTAMENT 125 
 
 LITERATURE. 
 
 Gfr6rer's Philo (2nd ed.). 
 
 Dahne, Geschichtliche Darstellung der judisch-alexandrin- 
 ischen Religions Philosophic. 
 
 The writings of Siegfried, Drummond, Heinze, Grill, 
 Brehier (who gives an excellent bibliography pp. vii. ff.) are 
 invaluable. 
 
CHARTER V. 
 
 THE " SON OF GOD " WHO DIES AND COMES TO 
 LIFE AGAIN. 
 
 IN the Pauline documents, which are the earliest 
 sources of Christianity, the Messiah is the pre-existent 
 Man from Heaven, who had existed there in the form 
 of God, and had descended to earth by a voluntary 
 act of self-humiliation and self-sacrifice. He is before 
 and above all things. Through him all things exist. He is 
 called " Son of God." He is the archetype and divinely 
 constituted head of humanity, who in this capacity was 
 primevally Lord of the human creation. This divine 
 Messiah suffers death as a vicarious atonement and 
 proves his Messiahship by his resurrection. The Christ 
 of Paul is not a man but a pure Divine personality, a 
 heavenly spirit without flesh and blood. Paul identifies 
 the Christ with the Holy Spirit. 1 The Christ is the 
 " Son of God " made manifest in the Apostle to the 
 Gentiles. 
 
 We have already observed that one of the most 
 characteristic features of Hellenism was the deification 
 of men, such as kings, philosophers, teachers and brave 
 
 1 See Gunkel, Die Wirkungen dcs heiligen Geistes^ p. 100, and 
 Schmiedel, Handcommentar z. N. T. II. i. p. 192. 
 
 126 
 
THE DYING SON OF GOD 127 
 
 citizens who had saved their towns from some 
 danger. Throughout the civilized world of the 
 Hellenistic period, except in Jewish circles, this 
 deification was a matter of everyday occurrence. 
 
 Jesus as Messiah was held to be King of the Jews. 
 He died as the King of the Jews, nay, this very title 
 was inscribed by Pilate on the Cross. Was it not 
 quite natural for any Hellenistic writer except a true 
 Jew to speak of this king as a "Son of God"? 1 More- 
 over, in accordance with Greek myths, his mother is 
 said to have been with the Lord (Luke i. 28), and their 
 eon was to be called " the Son of the Most High." In 
 Matthew (i. 18) the story is somewhat different : 
 " Now the birth of Jesus was in this wise : When his 
 mother Mary had been betrothed to Joseph, before they 
 came together, she was found with child of the Holy 
 Ghost." The same story, as we read in the Gospels, 
 was told of the father of Plato, who was also warned 
 in a dream by the God Apollo not to touch his wife, 
 until she had brought forth her divine son. 2 A similar 
 myth was also current concerning Philip of Macedon 
 and his wife who bore Alexander the Great. 3 If 
 further proof were required as to the influence of 
 Hellenism in the Gospels, we could point out heathen 
 parallels to the story of the star (Mt. ii. 1-12), the visit 
 of the Magi, and the slaughter of the babes in 
 Bethlehem. There is nothing Jewish or Rabbinic in 
 
 1 See above, pp. 34, 48. 
 2 Cf. Matthew i. 20. 
 
 :! See H. Usenet Reli^ionsgeschichtlicJic Untersuchungen 
 p.69ff. 
 
128 HELLENISM AND CHRISTIANITY 
 
 these narratives. Likewise, as we hope to demonstrate, 
 the whole of Paul's conception of the Heavenly pre- 
 existent Son of God who dies and comes to life again, 
 is un-Jewish. 
 
 It is somewhat amusing to see to what straits the 
 modern Christian theologians are put, in order to find 
 Rabbinic parallels to the New Testament narrative. Thus 
 Dr. Paul Feiue writes i 1 " In the later Jewish theology 
 the thought of the heavenly pre-existence of the 
 Messiah is not unknown, although it plays no impor- 
 tant part. It occurs in the Similitudes of Enoch, and 
 in iv. Ezra, and only again in the supplement (Anhang) 
 to the Pesikta Rabbati (of the seventh or eighth 
 century)." We need not discuss again the value of citing 
 ILnoch or iv. Ezra to illustrate the Messianic idea of the 
 Jews in the days of Jesus. 2 It is equally futile to refer 
 to the Pesikta Rabbati, which is BO much later. Dr 
 Sanday tells us 3 that "Paul was thoroughly Semitic " ; 
 this is hardly warranted by the theology of his Epistles. 
 Why was the Pauline Christology rejected by the Jews, 
 if not for the very simple reason that the spirit of 
 Hellenism was so patent in every aspect of the 
 exposition of the Apostle to the Gentiles. Paul's 
 success among the Heathens was clearly due to the fact 
 that he was able to bring them a religious system in 
 conformity with their heathen notions. 
 
 It would be very difficult to justify Dr. Sanday's 
 
 ^Paulus als Theologe, 1906, p. 50. 
 2 See above pp. 14 ff. 
 3 Hastings' D.C.G' ii. p- 889 ff. 
 
THE DYIXG SON OF GOD. 129 
 
 view that Paul had at his command all the accumulated 
 material (of the Rabbinical and apocalyptic teaching of 
 his contemporaries). 1 Paul's metaphysics and theology 
 are not to be traced to his Pharisaic training. We 
 cannot endorse Dr. Harnack's judgment, "Notwithstan- 
 ding Paul's Greek culture, his conception of Christianity 
 is, in its deepest ground, independent of Hellenism." 2 
 Pfleiderer spoke of a double root of Paulinism in 
 " Pharisaic theology and Hellenistic theosophy, of two 
 sides presented by the apostle's teaching ' a Christian- 
 ized Pharisaism,' embodied in the doctrine of 
 justification by faith, and 'a Christianized Hellenism' 
 in the doctrine of salvation by the risen, celestial Christ 
 and the operation of the Holy Spirit." 3 This is nearer 
 the truth, but how much of genuine Pharisaism is there in 
 Paul's doctrine of justification by faith ? There is 
 very little in common between the " Faith " of the Old 
 Testament or of the Palestinian Rabbis and the Pauline 
 " Faith." 4 
 
 Dr. Gunkel tells us " that before (the thne of) Jesus 
 there was a belief in Christ's (i.e. the Messiah's) death 
 and resurrection current in Jewish syncretic circles." 5 
 In other words we are asked to believe, on the authority 
 of Dr. Gunkel, that the idea of a dying Messiah, who 
 rises again from the dead, was already known in Jewish 
 
 1 See also Deissmann, Paulus, (1911), p. 73. 
 
 2 See also Harnack, Die Mission, i. p. 415. 
 
 8 Urchristentum, (1st. ed.) pp. 174-8. 
 
 4 See Hatch, Hibbert Lectures, 1888, pp. 310 ff., compare 
 Hart, The Hope of Catholick Judaism, pp. 16 ff., and see 
 Schlatter, Der Glaube im N. T., pp. 327 ff. 
 
 *Zum rcligionsgesckichtlichen Verstdndnis des N. T. p, 82. 
 
 K 
 
130 HELLENISM AND CHRISTIANITY 
 
 syncretic circles before the time of Jesus. If we require 
 proof we must turn to Dr. Gunkel's book. He urges 
 that the idea of a dying god, who rises to life eternal, 
 was conveyed to the first disciples of Jesus through 
 Judaism. He observes : "This is not so impossible as 
 might appear at first thought, iv. Ezra vii. 29 tells also 
 of the death of the Christ." 1 Further the Old Testa- 
 ment speaks of " a being, who is greater than 
 Moses and Joshua, destined to lead back the people (of 
 Israel) and to restore their kingdom, and at the same 
 time bringing God's religion to all the heathens. This 
 mysterious person had appeared long ago, but remained 
 unknown; he died in shame but will rise again in glory." 2 
 
 Thus far Dr. Gunkel, whose interesting statement 
 is apparently fortified by several Old Testament 
 references (Isaiah xlix. 6, 8 ; and liii.). Our reading of 
 the prophet Isaiah leads us to see in this " mysterious 
 person " none other than Israel. The prophet tells us 
 in the very chapter quoted by Dr. Gunkel that the 
 person is " Israel, my servant " (xlix. 4). Isaiah's 
 teaching in these passages has nothing whatever to do 
 with a pre-existent mysterious dying Messiah, 3 but 
 refers to the people of Israel. 
 
 This is the generally accepted interpretation of the 
 great Jewish commentators, and is confirmed by the 
 
 *Op. at. p. 78. The tendency of iv. Ezra vii. 29 is to combat 
 the Christian doctrine of a divine Messiah who is eternal ; the 
 Messiah of iv. Ezra dies like other men, because he is an 
 ordinar mortal. 
 
 3 Strange to say, Margolis, Mtca/t, p. 87, thinks that the "pre- 
 existent ' name' of the Messiah is equivalent to a transcendent" 
 Messiah ; see above, pp. 17, 110 for a contrary view. 
 
THE DYING Sox OP GOD 131 
 
 last edition of Kautzsch's Old Testament. The transla- 
 tion of Isaiah xl.-lxvL in this critical Bible is the work 
 of Dr. Budde, whose commentary tells us that this 
 famous chapter (liii.) contains in brief " the entire 
 history of Israel until it was reduced to slavery and its 
 nationality was destroyed " (p. 642). 
 
 Dr. Budde has nothing to say on behalf of the 
 supposed mythological background, although he declares 
 that "the complete suffering of God's servant was only 
 realized in the life of the most exalted of her sons 
 Jesus " (p. 641). We dissent entirely from this 
 interpretation of the fulfilment of the prophecy. Dr. 
 Budde admits that the servant is Israel, and that the 
 suffering depicted was actually endured by the Chosen 
 People. 
 
 It is easy to show that this celebrated chapter 
 (liii.) of Isaiah was not at all believed to refer to the 
 Death and Resurrection of the God-Messiah by the 
 authors of the Synoptic Gospels or even by Paul, 
 inasmuch as the quotations from this chapter in the 
 Synoptic Gospels or in Paul's Epistles do not, in a 
 single instance, refer to the Crucifixion or to the 
 Resurrection. Matthew, indeed, cites Isaiah liii. 4, 
 but his quotation is not based on the Hebrew text, 
 " Himself took our infirmities, and bare our diseases." 1 
 This text is quoted as a proof that Jesus fulfilled the 
 prophetic word, inasmuch as he cast out devils and healed 
 the sick. But there is no reference to the Passion. It 
 
 a Matt. viii. 17. R. V. renders Is. liii. 4, "Surely he hath 
 borne our griefs and carried our sorrows." 
 
132 HELLENISM AND CHRISTIANITY 
 
 will be as well to give all the other quotations from 
 this chapter of Isaiah which occur in the Pauline 
 Epistles or in the Synoptic Gospels: 
 
 NEW TESTAMENT. OLD TESTAMENT. 
 
 "But they did not all hearken "Who hath believed our 
 to the glad tidings. For Isaiah report ' n (or, " that which we 
 saith, Lord, who hath heard our have heard ") ? (I saiah liii. 1). 
 report?" (Rom. x. 16). 
 
 " And he said unto them, 
 But now, he that hath a purse, 
 let him take it, and likewise a 
 wallet ; and he that hath none, 
 let him sell his cloke, and buy 
 a sword. For I say unto you, 
 that this which is written must 
 be fulfilled in me, And he was 
 
 reckoned with transgressors ; " And he was numbered 
 for that which concerneth me among the transgressors." 
 hath fulfilment." (Luke xxii. (Isaiah liii. 12). 
 36, 37). 
 
 Luke does not quote the exact words of Isaiah 
 (according to LXX.), he has probably changed " he was 
 numbered among the transgressors " into " he was 
 reckoned with transgressors." 
 
 In the Revised Version the same quotation (Isaiah 
 liii 12) appears in Mark xv. 28, but only in the margin : 
 " Many ancient authorities insert verse 28, And the 
 scripture was fulfilled, which saith, And he was reckoned 
 with transgressors." The previous verse stated "And 
 with him they crucify two robbers ; one on his right 
 hand and one on his left." 2 It is evident that the passage 
 
 1 Dr. Budde remarks that the "report" does not bear the 
 meaning of the preaching of the Gospel. 
 - Mark xv. 27. 
 
THE DYING SON OF GOD 133 
 
 in Luke did not suggest the same historical fact which is 
 implied in Mark. Again the best MSB. do not have the 
 passage in Mark. 1 The result of our investigation may 
 be summed up in a few words. Three passages only 
 from Isaiah liii. are quoted. The first and second 
 passages do not refer to the death or resurrection, 
 whilst the last passage occurs in the Gospel of Luke only 
 according to the best MSS., and refers to an incident 
 which is probably not authentic. 2 
 
 Finally, Dr. Gunkel refers to iv. Ezra (vii. 29). 
 Surely this is inadmissible evidence because, as we saw 
 in our first chapter, 3 this book is post-Christian. There is 
 not a single passage in the pre-Christian literature of the 
 Jews of Palestine in which we have a theory of a dying 
 God-Messiah who rises up to eternal life again. If then 
 we are not able to find this Christology of Paul in Pales- 
 tinian Jewish writings, we must seek it elsewhere. We 
 believe that the solution will be found in attributing 
 Paul's idea of a dying and rising God-Messiah to the 
 influence of Hellenism. 
 
 Instead of following Dr. Gunkel we may, perhaps, 
 find a better guide in Justin Martyr (114 C.E.-165 C.E.) 
 one of the oldest of the Christian apologists. Justin 
 was a contemporary of Rabbi Akiba, and wrote two 
 Apologies of Christianity, as well as a polemical book 
 against Judaism ( " The Dialogue with Trypho ").* In the 
 
 1 See Pott, Der Text des N. T. p. 65. 
 
 2 See Holtzmann, Hand-commentar, \, p. 281. Verse 37 of 
 Luke xxii. is clearly out of place is its present context, verse 38 
 is directly connected with verse 36. 
 
 3 See above, p. 22, and above, p. 130, note 1. 
 
 4 Modern writers,^., Harnack, Die Mission, i. p. SO ., and 
 Geffcken, Ausder Werdeztit des Christentums,w. 51, 63, repeat 
 some of the unfounded statements of Justin, as though he were a 
 reliable and impartial historian. 
 
134 HELLENISM AND CHRISTIANITY 
 
 First Apology he addresses the heathen Greeks of his 
 time in the following words : 
 
 " If therefore, on some points we teach the same 
 things as the poets and philosophers whom you honour 
 . . . . why are we unjustly hated more than all others ? " l 
 
 " And when we say also that the Logos, who is the 
 first-birth of God, was produced without sexual union, 
 namely, Jesus Christ, our teacher, who was crucified and 
 who died, and rose again, and ascended into heaven ; tee 
 propound nothing different from what you believe 
 regarding thoie whom you esteem sons of Zeus. 
 For you know how many sons your esteemed writers 
 ascribe to Zeus : Hermes, the interpreting Logos 
 and teacher of all ; Aesculapius, who, though he was a 
 great physician, was struck by a thunderbolt, and so 
 ascended to Heaven ; and Dionysus, too, after he had 
 been torn limb from limb .... and what of the 
 emperors who die among yourselves, whom you deem 
 worthy of deification .... But we have learned that 
 those only are deified who have lived near to God in 
 holiness and virtue." 2 
 
 " Moreover, the Son of God, called Jesus, even if 
 only a man by ordinary generation, yet on account of 
 his wisdom is worthy to be called the Son of God ; 3 for 
 all writers call God the Father of men and gods. And 
 if we assert that the Logos of God was born of God in 
 a peculiar manner, different from ordinary generation, 
 
 1 Apol. i. 20. 
 *IMd. 21. 
 
 3 This connection between wisdom and the Son of God is 
 noteworthy. 
 
THE DYING SON OF GOD 135 
 
 let this, as said above, be no extraordinary thing to 
 you, who say that Hermes is the angelic Logos of God. 
 But if any one objects that he was crucified, in this 
 also he is 'on a par with those reputed sons of Zeus 
 of yours, who suffered as we have now enumerated .... 
 And if we even affirm that he was born of a virgin, 
 accept this in common'with what you accept of Perseus. 
 And in what we say that he made whole the lame, the 
 paralytic and those born blind, we seem to say what is 
 very similar to the deeds said to have been done by 
 Aesculapius." 1 
 
 Justin discusses the origin of heathen mythology in 
 Chapter 54 of the First Apology. He repeatedly 
 assures us that "the demons, in order to deceive and lead 
 astray the human race, caused the tales of mythology to 
 be invented. 2 For having heard it proclaimed through 
 the prophets that the Christ was to come .... they 
 put forward many to be called sons of Zeus, under the 
 impression that they would be able to produce in men 
 the idea that the things which were said with regard to 
 Christ were mere marvellous tales, like the things 
 which were said by the poets. And these things were 
 said both among the Greeks and among all nations 
 where they (the demons) heard the prophets foretelling 
 that Christ would specially be believed in ; but that in 
 learning what was said by the prophets, they did not 
 accurately understand it, but imitated what was said of 
 our Christ, like men who are in error, we will make 
 
 1 Ibid. 22. 
 
 1 Ibid. 23 and 54. 
 
136 HELLENISM AND CHRISTIANITY 
 
 plain." Thus Gen. (xlix. 10) was believed to refer to 
 the Messiah, who is there spoken of as " binding his 
 foal to the vine. 1 " The demons, accordingly, when they 
 lieard these prophetic words, said that Dionysus was the 
 son of Zeus and gave out that he was the discoverer 
 of the vine and they number wine among his mysteries ; 
 and they taught that, having been torn in pieces, he 
 ascended into heaven." 2 
 
 We are not disposed to accept this convenient 
 theory of Justin. We do not believe that there were 
 demons who deceived men and who invented Greek 
 mythology in order to lead astray the human race. It 
 must, indeed, have seemed most extraordinary to Justin 
 and to his contemporaries that the Christian belief and 
 practice had so many points of contact with heathenism. 
 It might seem reasonable to Justin that these analogies 
 were due to the malicious contrivance of the demons, who 
 had to study the Old Testament in order to find out what 
 kind of a religion Christianity was to be, and in order 
 to prevent mankind from following this true Christianity, 
 they had to substitute the heathen mythology. 3 
 
 We need another explanation, which is more in 
 accord with historical facts. Heathen mythology is 
 many centuries older than Christianity. The demons 
 are not the creators of this mythology, but are merely 
 part of its own creation. The theory of Justin has to 
 be reversed. It must be admitted that if the demons 
 
 1 See Harnack, Texte u. Untersuch. 1891, vii. 2, p. 128. 
 8 Justin, Apol. i. 54. 
 
 3 Would Harnack and Geffcken (see above, p. 133) also accept 
 this opinion of Justin as worthy of credence? 
 
THE DYING SON OF GOD 137 
 
 did not, of set purpose, anticipate Christianity by 
 inventing a mythology with similar ideas, beliefs, 
 sacraments and rites, then it is Christianity which has 
 adopted perhaps unconsciously its dogmas and 
 practices from the heathen cults which obtained in the 
 lands where the Church arose and flourished. 
 
 Dr. Frazer, the most eminent authority on the 
 subject we are now considering, writes in the last 
 edition of the Golden Bough the following weighty 
 words in connection with the Easter celebration of the 
 death and resurrection of Christ, which appears to him 
 to have been influenced by the similar celebration in the 
 heathen cults : " Taken altogether the coincidences of 
 the Christian with the heathen festivals are too close 
 and too numerous to be accidental. They mark the 
 compromise which the Church in the hour of its triumph 
 was compelled to make with its vanquished yet still 
 dangerous rivals. The inflexible Protestantism of the 
 primitive missionaries, with their fiery denunciations of 
 heathendom, had been exchanged for the supply policy, 
 the easy tolerance, the comprehensive charity of shrewd 
 ecclesiastics, who clearly perceived that if Christianity 
 was to conquer the world it could do so only by 
 relaxing the too rigid principles of its Founder, widen- 
 ing a little the narrow gate which leads to salvation." 1 
 
 The same argument holds good in the case of the 
 Christology of Paul, who was all things to all men, 
 to the Greeks a Greek, to the Jews a Jew. 
 
 * Adonis, Attis, Osiris, p. 260. 
 
138 HELLENISM AND CHRISTIANITY 
 
 Dr. Gunkel admits that " it would be a rash under- 
 taking to assert that Paul's Christology was due to the 
 influence exerted by the personality of Jesus." 1 Paul 
 never knew Jesus. His only experience of his Master 
 was limited to a vision. Dr. Wrede even asserts that 
 "the picture of the human personality of Jesus has 
 disappeared from the teaching of Paul. Moreover, 
 Paul is not to be at all understood if measured by the 
 teaching of Jesus." 2 
 
 We have, therefore, little hesitation in asserting 
 that Paul's Christ, who is the Son of God who dies 
 and rises again from the dead, is due to the Oriental 
 Hellenistic cults which flourished in the civilized world 
 (apart from Palestine) in the first century, C.E. Judaism 
 in this period knew nothing of a dying God-Messiah, 
 whose resurrection was to be revealed to his followers. 
 
 Paul is compelled [to represent his Christ in 
 human form, inasmuch as he is conceived of as a dying 
 Messiah-God, whose death brings salvation to all who 
 believe in him. But this Messiah is more than human ; 
 he is the Son of God, the Heavenly Man through whom 
 the world has been created and through whom it will be 
 redeemed. 8 
 
 It is, indeed, the Heavenly Christ picture which i& 
 for Paul the all-important fact. The Incarnation is 
 
 *0p. cit. p. 89. 
 
 "Uberdie Aufgabe und Methods der sogennanten Neutesta- 
 mentlichen Theologie, p. 67 f. 
 
 8 The excellent summary of the Oriental Heathen Religions 
 in M. Bruckner's Der sterbendt und auferstehende Goftheiland, 
 based on Frazer, Pfleiderer, Cumont and others, has been 
 utilized in the following account. 
 
THE DYING SON OF GOD 139 
 
 merely an episode. Paul entirely ignored the Virgin 
 Birth, the Sermon on the Mount and the parables 
 attributed to' Jesus. If, then, Paul's Messiah is not to 
 be explained by the recorded earthly life of Jesus, we 
 require some other explanation of the origin of this 
 Christ. Dr. Gunkel rightly asks : " Where do we find 
 that the Supreme God is enjoying peace and that 
 another being, similar to Him yet subordinate 
 takes his place ; that this God should appear on 
 earth ; dies and rises again and ascends to heaven in 
 order to be glorified ?* 
 
 " It is not the teacher, not the miracle-worker, not 
 the friend of the publicans and sinners, not the opponent 
 of the Pharisees, who is of importance to Paul It is 
 the crucified and risen Son of God alone." 2 
 
 This same writer tells us elsewhere that whatever 
 Paul has to say about Jesus is in fact only a myth or a 
 drama, to which Jesus has contributed (the loan of) his 
 name. 8 
 
 To refer to the "fact " that Jesus really did rise 
 from the dead is begging the question, because there 
 was no eye-witness who saw this miracle. The New 
 Testament itself bases its proof on two factors : (1) the 
 visions of the risen one, experienced by women and the 
 Apostles : (2) texts of Scripture believed to foretell a 
 resurrection and made to fit in with the assumed fact. 
 But visions are always subjective and there is no 
 
 *Oj>. tit. p. 92. 
 
 2 Wernle, Die Quellen des Lebcns Jesu in Religionsgesch, Volks- 
 biicher, n. ed. p. 5. 
 
 *Die Anfdnge unserer Religion, p. 329. 
 
140 HELLENISM AND CHRISTIANITY 
 
 implication of any objective reality corresponding to the 
 vision. We cannot admit in the realm of historical 
 reality the results of such experiences as dreams, 
 visions or fancies of the imagination. Again, the 
 belief in the Messiahship of Jesus his work as a 
 Saviour of men after his earthly life had ended is 
 closely connected with the belief in his resurrection. 
 
 As we shall see, there was a general belief current 
 in Hellenistic circles to the effect that the Saviour God 
 died and rose again from the dead. It is feasible to 
 assume that this belief was transferred by Hellenistic 
 writers and preachers, such as Paul and Apollos, to Jesus 
 who was reported to have died a cruel death in conse- 
 quence of having claimed to have been the Messiah or 
 Saviour of men. Again with regard to the texts. The 
 Evangelists believed that what the Scriptures foretold 
 must have been literally fulfilled by their Messiah. The 
 texts were not simply quoted to justify the events, but the 
 events were fashioned so as to harmonize with the texts, 
 which were also either misunderstood or misinterpreted 
 (and misquoted) so as to coincide with the traditions 
 concerning the life-story of the God-Saviour. 1 
 
 We shall find that in most of the Hellenistic 
 Oriental religions the celebration of the death and 
 resurrection of the god was held in the spring, just like 
 the Easter festival of the Church to-day. Again, we 
 find the custom of celebrating the resurrection on the 
 third day after the celebration of the death, which was 
 
 1 See Glover, op. cit. p. 183. 
 
THE DYING SON OF GOD 141 
 
 observed on the first day of the festival. This custom 
 is also common to Christianity as well as to many of 
 the Oriental cults. This last parallel with a remarkable 
 deviation, which will be mentioned, is so close that one 
 cannot help feeling that borrowing of some kind must 
 have taken place. Now the Evangelists are in doubt 
 as to the exact meaning of the "third day"; did it 
 mean that three days had lapsed, or was it the third 
 day itself? 1 The New Testament therefore speaks of 
 the third day and of the fourth day in connection with 
 the resurrection of Jesus. The resurrection of Osiris 
 was also on the fourth day after his death. 2 We must 
 not forget in this connection that the Hebrew tradition 
 spoke of Jonah as being thrte days in the sea-monster 
 and then returning to life. 
 
 In all the Hellenistic-Oriental religions, including 
 Christianity, the death and resurrection of the 
 Saviour-God was believed to assure the boon of 
 immortality to all the faithful ; for thereby was 
 procured not only redemption from death, but also 
 re-birth into the new life of eternity. The 
 assurance of this hope of salvation was conveyed to the 
 believers of all these creeds through two channels : 
 
 (1) through the mystical communion with the God, and 
 
 (2) by faith in Him and His power. The mystical 
 communion was achieved by the sacred ceremonies of 
 (1) Baptism and (2) Holy meals. 8 
 
 1 Gunkel, op. at. p. 80. 
 
 2 See also Matt. xii. 40. 
 
 :J See Harnack, Die Mission^ i. pp. 196 ff. 
 
142 HELLENISM AND CHRISTIANITY 
 
 As we know, Christianity also has both these sacra- 
 ments. How are we to account for these parallels ? The 
 explanation is very simple. It lies in the circumstance 
 that in the centres such as Antioch, Alexandria and Rome, 
 where Christianity first arose, the Oriental heathen-cults 
 were all-powerful, and were held in high esteem by the 
 people. We need not explain the parallels in all cases 
 between these heathen Oriental religions and Christian- 
 ity as the direct result of conscious borrowing, but 
 rather to the capacity of the Early Church to absorb 
 the characteristics of its environment and to its specific 
 nature as a creed of salvation, which naturally adopted 
 the current theories of the day as to the means whereby 
 this salvation could be obtained. It has been truly 
 said : " On Jewish soil the new faith (of Christ) died ; 
 it was transplantation alone that made Christianity 
 possible." 1 
 
 The fact that Christianity has so much in common 
 with the Hellenistic-Oriental religions may also be 
 explained by looking upon Christianity itself as an 
 Oriental cult, possessed of a similar mythological back- 
 ground such as obtained in the heathen creeds. Their 
 great similarity to each other resulted in a system 
 of mutual influence. In time there arose new lines of 
 development, when Christianity parted from its 
 heathen rivals after having adopted the fundamental 
 features of the pagan religions. The Church owes to 
 these religions a great deal of its ecclesiastical art, its 
 mysticism, its saint worship, monasticism, celibacy, 
 
 1 Glover, op. cit. p. 144. 
 
THE DYING Sox OF GOD 143 
 
 ascetism, its sacraments, its military spirit, as well as 
 its religious organization. None of these institutions 
 can be explained from Judaism. 1 
 
 It is only fair to admit that in Judaism also, from 
 time to time, we find how very easily the people were 
 led astray from the perfect ideal of Monotheism. The 
 heathen cults of the nations outside Palestine made 
 inroads into the Holy Land, and even in Jerusalem 
 itself the worship of heathen gods and goddesses was 
 not a thing quite unknown. Jeremiah 2 protests against 
 the worship of the " Queen of the Heaven " (Ishtar 
 or Aphrodite). Official Judaism, through the mouth of 
 the prophets, denounced all the heathen cults and 
 demanded a pure Monotheism which only knew of one 
 eternal living God, who is the spirit of holiness and love, 
 who has neither wife nor son, who refuses to accept a 
 vicarious sacrifice for the salvation of His children on 
 earth. The Messiah idea, which the prophets unfolded, 
 is destined to bring the human race to God and to teach 
 everyone that he must save his own soul by his own 
 personal effort and by his own self-sacrifice. There 
 was no mythology in Judaism which involved an incarna- 
 tion or the death and resurrection of the Deity. God's ways 
 are not men's ways ; men die, but God lives for ever. We 
 are often told that Christianity claims relationship with 
 Judaism. This will not be found to exist in the pure 
 prophetic Judaism, but it certainly does exist in that 
 spurious form of Judaism which flourished in Hellenistic 
 
 Glover, op. tit. pp. 24, 144-147 and 168. 
 2 vii. 18 ; xliv., 17-19. 
 
144 HELLENISM AND CHRISTIANITY 
 
 circles. We have seen how Philo, influenced by 
 Hellenism, anticipated in his Logos speculations the 
 Christology of the New Testament, and so likewise 
 the Christianity, which grew up and flourished in 
 heathen circles, was unable to divest itself of the 
 mythology which obtained in its environment. 1 
 
 We have already discussed and dismissed the 
 theory that the dying and rising Messiah-God of 
 Christianity is based on the suffering servant of Isaiah 
 (liiL). There is, however, one more passage in the Old 
 Testament, which is referred to by Dr. Gunkel 2 as 
 showing in the background the figure of a dying and 
 rising God, but which has been transformed by Judaism. 
 The reference v is to the prophecy of Zechariah, who 
 in all probability knew something of the rites in 
 connection with the heathen god Hadadrimmon, 
 whose death and resurrection were celebrated by the 
 heathens of his day. The passage in question reads 
 as follows : " And I will pour upon the house of 
 David, and upon the inhabitants of Jerusalem, the 
 spirit of grace and supplication ; and they (Israel) 
 shall look up to me because of each one whom they 
 (the Gentiles) have pierced ; 3 and they shall mourn for 
 him (each one), as one mourneth for his only son, and 
 
 a See above, p. 134. 
 
 -Op. tit. p. 78. Ps. xxii. should also be considered in. this 
 connection. 
 
 3 R.V. renders : " And they shall look unto me whom they 
 pierced." This is not a correct translation of the Hebrew text, 
 see John. xix. 37, which has : " And again another scripture 
 saith, They shall look on him whom they pierced." 
 
THE DYING SON OF GOD 145 
 
 shall be in bitterness for him, as one that it is in bitter- 
 ness for his firstborn. In that day shall there be a 
 great mourning in Jerusalem, as the mourning of Hadad- 
 rimmon in the valley of Megiddon " (xii. 10, 11). 
 
 In the previous verses (2-7) the zealous Jews are 
 referred to, some of whom were likely to be killed 
 by the Gentiles who were attacking them. Their 
 brethren in Jerusalem will therefore lament these 
 brave martyrs. 1 The Hadadrimmon reference is 
 generally believed to refer to the place in the valley 
 of Megiddo where king Josiah died at the hands of 
 Pharaoh Necoh. 2 This view is supported by Jerome, 3 
 who tells us that Adadrimmon is a village near Jezreel. 
 According to the Targum, Hadadrimmon was a son of 
 Tab-rimmon, who slew Ahab King of Israel ; so that 
 the passage in Zech. (xii. 11) means "the mourning for 
 Ahab." 
 
 Baudissin 4 gives a new form to the Josiah theory, 
 explaining the phrase in question as " the mourning for 
 the battle of Hadadrimmon." If, however, Hadadrimmon 
 (in verse 11) is really a heathen deity, we are not at all 
 justified in explaining the previous verse as referring to 
 a mythological god. Nearly 80 years ago Hitzig (in his 
 commentary on Isaiah) suggested that the mour- 
 ning was for Adonis, because in Phoenicia, Hadad was 
 the name of the supreme Baal or god of Syria, 5 The 
 
 1 This interpretation seems to be verified by the next two 
 verses. 
 
 8 ii. Kings xxiii. 29 and ii. Chron. xxxv. 22-25. 
 
 3 Comm. in loc. 
 
 *Stud. zur Sem. Religionsgeschichte, i. p. 320. 
 
 5 See Macrobius, Saturn \. 23, 18. L 
 
146 HELLENISM AND CHRISTIANITY 
 
 Assyrian inscriptions, however, identify him with the 
 god of the atmosphere, Rimmon or Rammon. We 
 should then have to translate " Hadadrimmon" by 
 Hadad is Rimmon. Dr. Sayce 1 writes: "But it is 
 probable that Rimmon in certain parts of Syria re- 
 presented the Sun-God, and not as in Assyria the god of 
 the atmosphere." It is fair to note that Dr. Cheyne 2 
 explains the expressions "the mourning for the only 
 one " and " the mourning of Hadadrimmon " (which are 
 parallel) as referring to the mourning for Tammuz. Dr. 
 Marti 3 inclines to the view that the passage (v. 1 1) refers 
 to the death of some martyr (probably Onias III, who 
 was killed in 170 B.C.E. 4 ). He explains Hadadrimmon as 
 due to the confusion of the Babylonian-Syrian weather 
 god with Tammuz. The latter is mentioned in Ezek. 
 (viii. 14). In all these interpretations, both ancient and 
 modern, there is no reference to the " dying and rising 
 God-Messiah," whom Dr. Gunkel would like to find in 
 some genuine Jewish record. 
 
 We are also told that the conception of a suffering 
 Messiah was known in certain Jewish secret circles at the 
 time of the rise of Christianity. 5 Proof is afforded not 
 only by the fact that the New Testament so often, and 
 as it were, so naturally implies the necessity of the 
 suffering of Jesus "in accordance with the words of 
 Scripture " ; but also by the fact that according to 
 
 1 Hastings' D.B. ii. p. 273. 
 
 2 See Enc. Bibl. ii. Col. 1931. 
 
 3 Kautzsch's O.T. ii. p. 93. 
 
 * See ii. Mac. iv. 27-34. 
 
 *Gunkel, op, tit. p. 82 and Drews, op. tit. p. 64. 
 
THE DYING SON OF GOD 147 
 
 Justin Martyr, the Jew Tryplio is made to say, "We 
 know that the Messiah will suffer." But is this any 
 proof? Justin, the Christian apologist, is speaking, 
 and not a real Jew. The New Testament is the voice 
 of Hellenistic writers, who were not likely to know very 
 very much of the secrets of the Palestinian Jewish 
 circles of the age when Jesus is said to have been born. 
 Moreover, we know nothing at all about any such 
 secret circles, which are assumed to have existed. 
 Judaism cannot be held responsible for such probabilities, 
 which lack all historical foundation. It is beside the 
 question to speak in this connection of the Messiah Ben 
 Joseph or Ben Ephraim who suffers, and the Messiah 
 Ben David who is victorious. This contrast is most 
 decidedly post-Christian. The Jewish idea of the two 
 Messiahs, the one who suffers and the other who is 
 victorious, may be analagous to the distinction between 
 the dying and victorious Gods, Tammuz and Marduk of 
 the Babylonians on the one hand, and Adonis and 
 Melcarth of the Pho3nicians on the other- hand. But, 
 as Dr. Bruckner warns us, we cannot draw any 
 conclusion with reference to any connection between 
 the Jewish Messiah and the heathen religions, because 
 such connection has not been proved to exist. 1 It will 
 be our task in the next chapter to enquire as to the 
 nature of the heathen worship whence Christianity 
 derived its central belief of a dying God-Saviour, whose 
 resurrection is the promise of life eternal to all who 
 have faith him. 
 
 ^Op.cit. p. 42. 
 
CHAPTER VI. 
 THE DYING SAVIOUR GOD. 
 
 WE have spoken of Christianity as a syncretic 
 Oriental religion. This statement may be explained 
 from two points of view. The fact that the founder of 
 the Christian religion was by birth a Jew, who lived in 
 Galilee, affords ample justification for speaking of his 
 cult as Oriental. Secondly, the Church has so very 
 much in common with other Oriental cults that we are 
 constrained to include Christianity in the family of 
 Oriental Religions. We are now "concerned with the 
 task of tracing the origin of the fundamental belief of 
 the Christian Faith, which is summed up in the 
 two words, " Crucifixion " and " Resurrection." 
 
 The belief in a divine Saviour or God, who dies and 
 is raised to life again, is not peculiar to Christianity. 
 This belief is to be found in almost all the Oriental 
 Religions, that were either more ancient than Christian- 
 ity or that flourished as contemporary rivals. Most of 
 these heathen religions have a history which reaches far 
 back into the distant past. Although Christianity 
 originally had its roots in Palestine, it was at a very 
 early date transplanted to heathen soil. In these 
 
 148 
 
THE DYING SAVIOUR GOD 149 
 
 heathen surroundings, where people observed the old 
 Oriental religions of Adonis or Tammuz, who had Attis 
 and Osiris for his Phrygian and Egyptian counterparts 
 respectively, we find the ritual of the death and resur- 
 rection of the god. The Christian Church adopted 
 these current heathen ideas in order to gain converts 
 from the rival creeds. Christianity is therefore a syn- 
 cretic religion which owes not a little to Judaism, but at 
 the same time owes considerably more to Hellenistic 
 Heathenism. We have been taught all this by the 
 recent researches of Frazer, Gunkel, Cumont and 
 Pfleiderer. We have now learnt the reasonableness of 
 accepting evolutionary views of the history of 
 Christianity. 
 
 There seems to be two distinct stages in the devel- 
 opment of the nature of the heathen gods. The mere 
 fact that nearly all the heathen religions celebrate 
 annual festivals commemorating the death and the 
 resurrection of the gods points to their origin as being 
 connected with Vegetation. The second stage comes 
 later when astral features are associated with the gods 
 of nature. The man in the primitive ages of history 
 noted the changes of the seasons, the growth and decay 
 of vegetation, and the birth and death of living creatures. 
 The problem was how to account for these facts. 
 According to Dr. Frazer, the solution was believed to 
 be in " the waxing or waning strength of divine beings, 
 of gods and goddesses, who were born and died." 1 The 
 
 ^Adonis, Attis, Osiris, 2nd ed. p. 3. 
 
150 HELLENISM AND CHRISTIANITY 
 
 rites and sacraments of the religion of the heathen were 
 intended to give strength to the god so as to enable 
 him to resist death, which was threatening to overcome 
 him. Even if death succeeded in destroying the god, 
 the ceremonies of the faithful were potent enough to 
 infuse new energy into him so as to raise him again 
 from the dead. "And as they now explained the 
 fluctuations of growth [and decay, of reproduction and 
 dissolution by the marriage, the death, and the re-birth 
 or revival of the gods, their religions or rather magical 
 dramas turned in great measure on these themes. 
 They set forth the fruitful union of the powers of 
 fertility, the sad death of one at least of the divine 
 partners and his joyful resurrection." 1 
 
 Western Asia and Egypt were the home of these 
 beliefs and cults. Vegetation, marked by annual decay 
 and revival, was personified as a god who yearly dies 
 and comes to life again. In the process of time these 
 gods of nature were ultimately identified with the gods 
 of the heavens. In the daily and yearly course of the 
 sun, in the waxing and waning moon, in the constel- 
 lations which disappear for a time and then become 
 visible; in all these manifestations the primitive man 
 saw gods who came and went, who died and rose again 
 to life. 2 It is by no means easy at first sight to 
 determine the original nature of the heathen gods. 
 Life on earth is intimately bound-up with the heavenly 
 bodies. The sun helps Mother earth to] bring forth her 
 
 1 Frazer, op. cit. p. 4. 
 
 2 See also Maimonides, Hilchoth Abode ChocJuzbim i. If. 
 
THE DYING SAVIOUR GOD 151 
 
 produce, and later on kills the sweet flowers and 
 trembling leaf. The waning and waxing moon was 
 also believed to exercise a sympathetic influence on the 
 entire world of life. Speaking quite generally it is 
 a fairly safe rule to assume that the Sun-gods represent 
 the powers of nature that conquer and rule. The sun 
 never really disappears (i.e. dies) in his yearly course, 
 but always triumphs over his enemies of the autumn 
 and winter by showing renewed strength in the spring 
 and summer. The Sun God Mithras is therefore 
 termed the Invincible (Sol invictus). 1 
 
 In the world of vegetation the short span of life in 
 the spring is followed by the withering of fruit and 
 blossom in the torrid heat [of the Eastern summer. 
 Then swiftly follows the death grip of icy winter. The 
 life of warmth and beauty is all too short. The gods of 
 vegetation are young and beautiful, but their life is soon 
 cut off. Their ritual is of a mournful nature, 
 lamentation and weeping for the death of the young 
 god. The gods of vegetation are generally associated 
 with a great Mother goddess. The gods are their sons 
 or lovers. The meaning in ordinary language of all this 
 mythology is, that Mother earth brings forth vegeta- 
 tion which is described as her son or the relation 
 between the earth and her produce is described as the 
 union of husband and wife for the short period when 
 nature brings forth her fruit. It is the goddess who 
 loves the youthful god who is doomed to die ; and not 
 
 1 See Cumont, Textes et Monuments figures relatifs aux 
 Mysteres de Mithra, ii. pp. 99 ff. 
 
152 HELLENISM AND CHRISTIANITY 
 
 vice-versa. As soon as the god dies he is lamented 
 by the goddess, who seeks him in heaven, on earth and 
 beneath the earth. It is owing to this circumstance 
 that the sanctuaries are generally dedicated to the 
 goddess and not to the god, who suffers and dies. The 
 superiority of the goddess (which I venture to suggest 
 was due to her immunity from death) is to be 
 accounted for, according to Dr. Frazer "from a state 
 of savagery in which the mere fact of paternity was 
 unknown. That explains why in later times, long after 
 the true nature of paternity had been ascertained, the 
 Father God was often a much less important personage 
 in mythology than his divine partner the Mother 
 Goddess." 1 
 
 When in the process of time the sufferings of the 
 dying god, and the salvation earned by him in conse- 
 quence of his Passion and guaranteed by his resurrection, 
 were interpreted as sufferings and death endured by 
 the god in order that his followers might enjoy not only 
 salvation in this life but also in the life beyond the 
 grave ; then only did the god gain an independent 
 and predominant position. Then the young god of 
 Vegetation becomes identified with the invincible Sun- 
 god. 
 
 According to Dr. Bruckner another sign of the 
 origin of a god as a god of vegetation may be seen in 
 the custom of holding a bull sacred to that deity. The 
 bull is the symbol of generative force. But it must be 
 
 *Op. tit. p. 236. 
 
THE DYING SAVIOUR GOD 153 
 
 borne in mind that until the year 2100 B.C.E. the sun 
 passed through the constellation of the bull at the birth 
 of spring ; afterwards, owing to the precession of the 
 equinoxes, the sun passed through the constellation of the 
 ram. 1 If, then, a bull and ram are sacred to a particular 
 god, we may probably assume that it was originally a Sun- 
 god. Another guide to enable us to discover the original 
 nature of the god may be afforded by the circumstances 
 of the festivals celebrated in his honour. If 
 the worshippers of a god kept a day or period of 
 mourning (to commemorate the sufferings and death of 
 the god) in the early autumn or at midsummer, we can 
 safely assume that we are dealing with a god of vegeta- 
 tion and not with a Sun-god. At midsummer or in the 
 early autumn the sun is not at his minimum strength 
 and there can be no reason to mourn then for his death 
 or loss of strength. The sun never dies. Again, if the 
 festival of joy to celebrate the resurrection of the god 
 was held in the spring, we are undoubtedly dealing 
 with the cult of a god of vegetation, for just at that 
 season does vegetation rise again to life. The two 
 festivals of sorrow and joy, held originally in the early 
 autumn and in the spring respectively, were in later ages 
 celebrated together, either in the spring or in the 
 autumn. 
 
 The cult was so arranged that first of all the death 
 of the god was celebrated and then at night or on the 
 next day the sorrow of the worshippers was turned to 
 
 *Op. tit. p. 9. 
 
154 HELLENISM AND CHRISTIANITY 
 
 joy, for they were hailing the resurrection of their god. 
 Did they not believe that they also would overcome the 
 corruption of the grave ? The most important element 
 in the ritual of all the Oriental cults was the dramatic 
 celebration of the death and the resurrection of the 
 Saviour God, in whose mystical union the worshipper 
 felt that even death itself had lost its sting. In order 
 to understand the meaning of these [religions, it is 
 necessary to become somewhat more intimately 
 acquainted with their ceremonies and doctrines. 
 
 BABYLONIA. 
 
 Ezekiel saw women in the north gate of the temple 
 of Jerusalem weeping for Tammuz (Ezek. viii. 14). The 
 prophet gives us to understand that the event took 
 place in the 6th year of King Jehoiachin's captivity, 
 and the day was the fifth of the sixth month, although 
 the LXX reads the fifth month. It was a little after 
 midsummer in August or September, when the event 
 referred to by Ezekiel probably took place. The Jews 
 have preserved the name of Tammuz in their calendar. 
 It is the fourth month. The Talmud asserts that the 
 names of the Hebrew months were of Babylonian 
 origin. 1 Tammuz was a Babylonian deity, whose 
 worship had been borrowed from the non-Semitic 
 people who first inhabited Mesopotamia. The name 
 
 1 T. J. Rosh Hashana i. 1. 
 
THE DYING SAVIOUR GOD 155 
 
 Tammuz meant the " Son of Life." 1 He was the god 
 of the vegetation of spring, who dies in the fourth 
 month named after him (Tammuz) i.e. June- July. 
 He is the beloved son or husband of the goddess 
 Ishtar. The old poems of Babylonia described 
 him as a beautiful shepherd, cut off in the prime 
 of youth. 2 He descends into the lower world 
 and was believed to be also the god of these 
 regions. His disappearance was celebrated by a great 
 lamentation which may have lasted for three weeks, 
 (perhaps from the middle of Tammuz till after the first 
 week in Ab). 
 
 In the Babylonian mythology Tammuz is described 
 as the son of Ea, the deity who rules over the deep. 
 There was a Babylonian trinity, consisting of Ea, Anu, 
 the god of heaven, and Bel, the god of earth. 3 They 
 constituted the gods of all things in the "heavens 
 above, in the earth beneath and in the waters under 
 the earth." Ishtar, the great Mother-goddess, mourned 
 long and vainly the loss of her beloved Tammuz. At 
 last she resolves to descend into the underworld in 
 order to find and to rescue him from the " land from 
 which there is no returning," from " the house of dark- 
 ness, where dust lies on door and bolt. " 4 She had to pass 
 through seven gates before she reached her destination. 
 At each gate an article of clothing was taken from her, 
 until she arrived in the underworld bereft of all her 
 
 1 Hastings' D.B. iv. 6. 
 2 See Macrobius, Saturn. i. 21, 5 
 3 Jeremias, A.T.A.O. p. 7. 
 4 Frazer, Adonis, Attis, Osiris, p. 7- 
 
156 HELLENISM AND CHRISTIANITY 
 
 possessions, typifying the fact that at death a man 
 taketh nothing away. 
 
 As soon as the goddess had descended into the 
 underworld all life on earth ceased, even the propaga- 
 tion of species among man and beast. In a word, 
 death was threatening to conquer the world of life. 
 Ishtar had, meanwhile, been detained in the lower 
 regions by the harsh queen Eresh-Kigal (Proserpine). 
 The god Ea despatched a messenger to Eresh-Kigal 
 demanding the liberation of Ishtar. The queen 
 reluctantly obeys and allows Ishtar to be sprinkled 
 with the water of life, 1 and to depart with her lover 
 Tammuz in order to revive the world of nature where 
 the children of men live. The return to life took place 
 according to the myth on the 28th of Kislev (about 
 December 21st). The ritual in connection with the 
 annual commemoration of the death of the god was 
 performed by wailing men and wailing women. 2 
 The hymn which described Ishtar's descent into the 
 underworld was recited. The god was likened to 
 plants which quickly fade. The dirges repeated the 
 words with which Ishtar was believed to have mourned 
 her beloved : "0 my brother, the only (son) ! " and the 
 mourners replied " Ah me, Ah me ! " 
 
 " The dirges were seemingly chanted over an effigy 
 of the dead god, which was washed with pure water, 
 anointed with oil, and clad in a red robe, 3 while the 
 
 1 See Jeremias. Babylonisches imNeuen Testament^ pp. 73 ff. 
 2 Cf. mJJlpa Mourning women (Jer. ix. 16). 
 8 Burial in red robes is not quite unknown to Jewish and 
 Christian custom. 
 
THE DYING SAVIOUR GOD 157 
 
 fumes of incense rose into the air, as if to stir his 
 dormant senses by their pungent fragrance and wake 
 him from the sleep of death." 1 The sprinkling with 
 the water of life and the anointing with oil referred to 
 here afford an interesting parallel to the rite of baptism 
 in the early Church. 
 
 In another Babylonian myth referring to Adapa 
 (the first man) we are told how Tammuz disappears 
 from earth in order to enter the gate of Anu (the 
 heavens). We thus have in the Babylonian religion a 
 belief in the resurrection or ascension of a dying god. 
 We have another instance in the Babylonian 
 Mythology of a similar cult associated with Marduk or 
 Merodach, who defeated Tiamath, the demon of the 
 deep and at the same time he annihilated the spirit 
 of Evil (Satan, the accuser). 
 
 Marduk is the counterpart of Tammuz, he saved 
 not only man but also ^the gods. He was king of 
 the heavens " pasturing the gods like sheep." 2 His 
 cult included a brilliant resurrection festival with splen- 
 did processions. He was in all probability originally a 
 god of vegetation. The bull was sacred to him and his 
 festival was kept in the spring. In later times he was 
 worshipped as the god of light, of dawn and of spring. 
 Because he had conquered Tiamath (the spirit of dark- 
 ness and evil) 3 he was hailed "Saviour God" and 
 worshipped as the redeemer in all times of distress. He 
 
 1 Frazer, op. cit. p. 7. 
 
 -Jeremias, A. T.A.O., p. 21. 
 
 a See Pinches, Religion of Babylonia and Assyria, p. 60. 
 
158 HELLENISM AND CHRISTIANITY 
 
 was also invoked as a god of healing in times of sickness, 
 as the god who could loosen every spell. He is the 
 Merciful one, who lives to quicken the dead. His name 
 is the lord of all lords, the king of all kings. In the 
 winter Marduk dies and revives in the spring. The 
 lamentations in commemoration of his death were 
 recited or chanted on certain days. He is therefore 
 spoken of as " Bel Nubatti " i.e. the god of the lamen- 
 tation. 1 His grave was pointed out by his worshippers. 
 When he came to life in the spring, his festival, which 
 was called Zagmuk, was celebrated. This was the 
 Babylonian New Year (resh shatti). He has con- 
 quered winter, conceived of as the dragon of the deep 
 (Tiamath) and, therefore, his festival is observed when 
 the day and night are equal (vernal equinox). 2 
 
 The importance of Marduk is not to be ignored. 
 He is the son of Ea, who is described as ilu amelu (God- 
 man). Marduk is the lord of a new world, which has 
 replaced the old world of evil. He is the Demiurg, 
 through whom the world has been created. He is the 
 Saviour, who can loosen the spells and who heals the 
 sick and revives the dead. 3 He is the Mediator between 
 the gods and men. He dies and his sepulchre is known. 4 
 He rises again from death to everlasting life. The 
 festival in honour of the resurrection of Marduk 
 corresponds to the celebration of the death of the year 
 god (dying nature). The winter solstice (Dec. 25th) 5 
 
 1 Jeremias, Babylonisches im N. T. p. 9. 
 
 2 See Jeremias, A.T.A.O-, p. 83. 
 
 3 Jeremias, op. tit. p. 97. 
 
 ^Herodotus, i. 183. 
 
 This was the date according to the Julian calendar. 
 
THE DYING SAVIOUR GOD 159 
 
 was the birthday of the year god, whilst the summer 
 solstice was the festival of the death of Tammuz. 
 
 LITERATURE. 
 
 On Tammuz see Rothenstein's Comm. on Ezefciel (v\\\. 14) 
 in Kautzsch; Frazer, Golden Bough, part iv. (Index s. Tammuz), 
 and Hastings' D.B., iv. p. 676 f. 
 
 Enc. Bibl. iv., cols. 4893 ff. where the question of the 
 relation of Old Testament heroes to the Tammuz Myth is 
 discussed. 
 
 See also Pinches, Religion of Babylonia and Assyria, pp. 
 69 ff. und " Tammuz " in Enc. Brit. 
 
 On Marduk see Jeremias in Reseller's Lexikon der 
 G riechischen und Romischen Mythologie, ii. 2, 2340 ff. ; and 
 Gunkel, Schopfung und Chaos. 
 
 PHCENICIA. 
 
 The Phoenician god Adonis has been identified by 
 Dr. Frazer 1 with the Babylonian god Tammuz. His 
 chief seat of worship was at Byblus on ' the coast of 
 Syria. Here was the famous temple of Aphrodite or 
 Baalath Gebal, that is the female Baal of Byblus. Her 
 symbol was a tall cone or obelisk erected in the court of 
 the temple. 2 To this day the women of Kuklia, the 
 old city of Paphos in Cyprus, anoint conical cones in 
 honour of the Virgin Mary, who has taken the place of 
 the old goddess Aphrodite. 3 Another sanctuary, sacred 
 
 1 Frazer, Adonis, Attis, Osiris p. 6. 
 -Ibid. p. 11. 
 *Ibid. p. 32. 
 
160 HELLENISM AND CHRISTIANITY 
 
 to the cult of Aphrodite, was to be found at Aphaca in 
 the Lebanon range at the source of the stream named 
 after Adonis, which falls into the sea a little to the 
 south of Byblus and is now known as Nahr Ibrahim. 
 It was at this spot near a profound gorge, perhaps the 
 most beautiful spot on earth, that the mournful rites 
 were annually celebrated to mark the death of the 
 youthful god Adonis. When the red anemone, the 
 flower of Adonis, blossomed among the cedars of 
 Lebanon and the mountain stream ran red, owing to 
 the melting snow and reddish mountain soil being 
 carried into the stream, the people of Syria believed 
 that they then beheld the blood of the slain god and 
 then they kept his festival. 1 This was observed in the 
 spring or early summer. 
 
 The legend tells us that Adonis sprang into life out 
 of a myrtle tree. 2 Another tradition says that his 
 mother's name was Myrrha, who had been transformed 
 into a tree. 3 Adonis was a huntsman who became the 
 lover of Astarte (Aphrodite). 4 The name of the god 
 resembles the Hebrew Adon and means master or lord, 
 just like Bel or Baal which also means lord. According 
 to the legend, the death of Adonis was due to the 
 jealousy of Ares (the lover of Aphrodite), who sent a 
 wild boar against his rival. Ares is also said to have 
 transformed himself into the boar. It is not quite clear 
 
 1 Lucian, De dea Syria, 8. 
 2 Pausanias, vi. 24, 7. 
 
 8 Frazer, op. cit. p. 39, for the legend of Cinyras' incestuous 
 intercourse with Myrrha and the birth of Adonis ; see also p.186. 
 4 Macrobius, Sat. i. 21, 5. 
 
THE DYING SAVIOUR GOD 161 
 
 what significance is to be attributed to the boar in this 
 legend. It may represent winter which kills all 
 vegetation. The lament for Adonis was the chief feature 
 of his ritual. 1 We saw the same fact in the case of the 
 worship of Tamniuz. In course of time a process of syn- 
 cretism altered this by combining with the wailing a 
 feast in honour of the resurrection of the god. It has 
 been thought that this change was due to the influence 
 of the Egyptian Osiris cult. The Roman writer Lucian, 2 
 who witnessed these rites, tells us : " There is a 
 large temple of Aphrodite at Byblus where they 
 celebrate the mysteries of Adonis. I was duly instructed 
 in these mysteries. The people say that the story of 
 Adonis and the boar occurred in that locality. In 
 memory of the .suffering of the god they mortify them- 
 selves every year, and they lament and perfonn the 
 secret rites of his cult. The mourning is widely observed 
 in that district. When they have beaten themselves 
 and cried sufficiently, they offer a sacrifice to Adonis as 
 though they were sacrificing to the dead: The next 
 day they say that he is living again for they believe 
 that he had ascended to heaven in the presence of the 
 faithful. In the next chapter Lucian observes that at 
 Byblus, where Osiris was supposed to be buried, it was 
 thought that the ritual of the lamentation was for 
 Osiris and not for Adonis. This belief was connected with 
 the strange story that every year a head floated from 
 Egypt to Byblus. 3 Cyril of Alexandria reports that 
 
 1 See Baudissin, op. cit. pp. 298 ff. 
 
 2 Lucian, op. cit. 6. 
 
 *Ibid. 7. M 
 
162 HELLENISM AND CHRISTIANITY 
 
 Egyptian women hi his city every year sent a letter 
 in a pitched bottle to the women of Byblus. 1 This 
 arrives on a certain day at Byblus and brings the 
 message that Adonis has been found " We found him 
 and we rejoiced." The cult of Adonis was known in 
 Alexandria since the third century B.C.E. 2 The ritual 
 at Alexandria began with the representation of the 
 marriage of Adonis and Aphrodite. The images of the 
 god and goddess were displayed on two couches, 
 "beside them were set ripe fruit of all kinds, cakes, 
 plants growing in flower-pots, and green bowers twined 
 with anise." 3 On the following day the death of the god 
 was celebrated. His image was carried to the sea- 
 shore amid loud cries of grief and then committed to 
 the waves. In spite of their sorrow the people believed 
 that their dead god would come to life again. 4 The 
 cult of Adonis passed to the Greeks as early as 
 the seventh century B.C.E. Sappho (about 600 B.C.E.) 
 sings of him and Plato speaks of the gardens of 
 Adonis. These gardens 5 were pots or baskets filled 
 with earth, in which wheat, barley, lettuces, and various 
 kinds of flowers were sown and tended by women for 
 eight days. The pknts shot up very quickly, but 
 having no root they withered away just as rapidly. 
 These gardens were a symbol of the vegetation which 
 
 1 Bruckner, op. cit. p. 16. 
 *Roscher, op. cit. L 1, 73. 
 s Frazer, op. cit. p. 183. 
 *Theocritus, xv. 131 ff. 
 
 5 For the authorities see Frazer, op. cit. p. 194 ; cf. Jeremias, 
 A. T.A.O. p. 89, and Roscher, ibid. 74. 
 
THE DYING SAVIOUR GOD 163 
 
 arises in the spring and dies in the early summer. The 
 baskets or pots were then cast into the water with 
 images of the dead god Adonis. It has been suggested 
 that the rite represented an offering to the male principle 
 of life symbolized by the water, whereby this principle 
 would be strengthened and preserved. 1 In other 
 words, the gardens of Adonis were originally intended 
 to be charms to bring about the revival of vegetation 
 and the preservation of life. 
 
 In Greek mythology Adonis is the beautiful youth 
 whom Aphrodite loves. In his infancy the goddess 
 placed him in a box, which she gave in charge of 
 Proserpine, the goddess of the nether-world. When 
 Proserpine opened the box and beheld the beauty of the 
 child, she refused to restore him to Aphrodite. Zeus 
 settled the quarrel by arranging that for one-third of 
 the year Adonis should be on earth with Aphrodite, and 
 for two-thirds he was to be in the nether-world with 
 Proserpine. The third of the year clearly points to the 
 duration of spring and early summer. At last Adonis, 
 whilst hunting, was killed by a wild boar. Bitterly did 
 Aphrodite lament her lost and beloved Adonis. 2 
 
 In Attica the festival of Adonis took place at the 
 height of summer. When Alcibiades sailed with the 
 Athenian fleet to attack Syracuse at midsummer in 
 411 B.C.E. the rites of Adonis were being observed at 
 that time in Athens. 3 " As the troops marched down 
 
 1 Bruckner, op. cit. p. 18. 
 
 3 Apollodorus, Myth. Bibl. iii. 14, 4, cf. Jeremias, Babyl. 
 im N.T. p. 31, and Roscher, ibid. p. 72. 
 3 Plutarch, Alcibiades^ 18, and Nicias, 13. 
 
164 HELLENISM AND CHRISTIANITY 
 
 to the harbour to embark, the streets through which they 
 passed were lined with coffins and corpse-like effigies, 
 and the air was rent with the noise of women wailing 
 for the dead Adonis. The circumstance cast a gloom 
 over the sailing of the most splendid armament that 
 Athens ever sent to sea." 1 These voices of lamentation 
 were believed to be an ill omen for the success of the 
 expedition. Pausanias tells also of the women of 
 Argos who wept for Adonis. 2 
 
 According to Dr. Bruckner, the Jews knew the 
 cult of Adonis as early as the eighth century B.C.E. 
 The gardens of Adonis are said to be mentioned in Isaiah 
 xvii. 10 f. Certain passages of the Old Testament have 
 also been considered by Bruckner to refer to Adonis. 
 Amos (viii. 10) speaks of the "lament for an only son." 3 
 In Dan. (xi. 37) " The delight of women " is believed 
 to refer to the god Adonis or Tammuz. Jeremiah 
 (xliv. 17-19) is also taken to refer to the worship of one 
 of the Mother-goddesses, Ishtar or Aphrodite. 4 Dr. 
 Jeremias believes that he has discovered a connection 
 between Tammuz-Adonis and the history of Joseph 
 and Jonah. 5 The story says that Jonah was con- 
 fined in the belly of a fish, this is believed to be 
 another version of the detention of the god in the nether- 
 world. Jonah is in the fish for three days. These 
 
 1 Frazer, op. cif. p. 185. 
 2 ii. 20, 6. 
 
 3 Cf. Jer. vi. 22; xxii. 18; xxxiv. 15 ; Zech. xii. 10. ; Ps. xxxv. 
 14 ; i. Kings xiii. 11 according to LXX. 
 
 4 Briickner, op. df. pp. 18 ff., and Jeremias, A. T.A.O. p. 91. 
 6 Jeremias, op. cit. p. 91. 
 
THE DYING SAVIOUR GOD 165 
 
 incidents have, however, been utilized by the writers of 
 the New Testament (Matt. xii. 40 and i. Cor. xv. 4), 
 who speak of Jesus as abiding in the bosom of the 
 earth and rising on the third day. 1 Again, the descrip- 
 tion in the Book of Jonah of the "fasting and sack- 
 cloth " is believed to recall the Adonis lamentation at 
 Autioch. Finally, the springing up and dying of the 
 gourd in Jonah is claimed to resemble the "Adonis 
 Gardens " which we have already mentioned. 2 
 
 Dr. Frazer has drawn attention to the remarkable 
 resemblance of the Easter ceremonies in the Greek 
 Church and in the Roman Catholic Church to the rites 
 of Adonis. " When we reflect how often the Church 
 has skilfully contrived to plant the seeds of the new 
 faith on the old stock of paganism, we may surmise 
 that the Easter celebration of the dead and risen 
 Christ was grafted upon a similar celebration of the 
 dead and risen Adonis, which, as we have seen reason 
 to believe, was celebrated in Syria at the same season. 
 The type, created by Greek artists, of the sorrowful 
 goddess (Aphrodite) with her dying lover (Adonis) in 
 her arms, resembles and may have been the model of 
 the Pieta of Christian art, the Virgin with the dead 
 body of her divine Son in her lap, of which the most 
 celebrated example is the one by Michael Angelo in St. 
 Peter's .... Ancient Greek art has bequeathed to us 
 few works so beautiful, and none so pathetic." 3 
 
 1 Jeremias, op. tit. p. 600 ; Gunkel, Zum rel. Verstdndnis, 
 p. 80 f., and see above, p. 141. 
 
 2 Briickner, op. cit. p. 19, and above, p. 162. 
 'Frazer, op. cit. p. 214. 
 
166 HELLENISM AND CHRISTIANITY 
 
 We can see how close was the connection between 
 Jesus and Adonis by the following statement of Jerome, 
 who tells us that in his day Bethlehem was a seat of 
 Adonis (Tammuz) worship. His grove was to be seen 
 there and women wept for him. 1 Bethlehem, according 
 to the New Testament, was the birth-place of Jesus, and 
 there also came the wise men who worshipped him. 2 
 
 Dr. Frazer suggests that the Morning Star, identified 
 with Venus, may have been the signal for the festival 
 of Adonis, which was regularly timed to coincide with 
 the appearance of the Morning Star. At Antioch and 
 elsewhere the appearance of this star on the day of 
 the festival may have been hailed as the coming of 
 Aphrodite to wake her beloved dead from his long death 
 sleep. It may be that it was the Morning Star wliich 
 guided the wise men of the East to Bethlehem, the 
 hallowed spot which heard the lament for Adonis and 
 the crying of the infant Jesus. 3 Jerome would have us 
 believe that the heathen worship in Bethlehem was 
 post-Christian. We have already seen how the Church 
 Fathers were wont to regard ancient heathen rites and 
 customs as copies of their own similar rites and customs. 
 This verdict must be reversed. The heathen rites were 
 earlier than the Christian. Perhaps Rachel's weeping 
 for the children (referred to in Matt. ii. 18) is an echo 
 of the Adonis cult at Bethlehem. 
 
 In later times Adonis was identified with the com 
 
 1 Frazer, op. cit. p. 214 f. 
 
 8 Matt. ii. 1-12, and cf. Frazer, ibid. p. 216. 
 
 8 Frazer, ibid. p. 216. 
 
THE DYING SAVIOUR GOD 167 
 
 spirit. The corn was placed in the earth, where it rots 
 and dies in order to rise again to life. This idea was 
 applied by Jesus to himself according to John (xii. 24). 
 Adonis was also bewailed by the heathen Syrians 
 as the corn spirit, bruised and ground in a mill 
 and then scattered to the wind. This mourning for the 
 god has been interpreted as a harvest rite, " designed 
 to propitiate the corn-god, who was then either perish- 
 ing under the sickles of the reapers, or being trodden to 
 death under the hoofs of the oxen on the threshing- 
 floor." 1 This interpretation of the death of Adonis is 
 not the original meaning of his cult. In the earliest 
 forms of the legend he was the huntsman or shepherd 
 of the god of the fields, and he represents by his early 
 death the transient life of nature, illustrated by the 
 annual decay of vegetation under the summer heat or 
 winter cold. Dr. Frazer thinks that the Adonis worship 
 might have been originally connected with that of a 
 single tree. 2 The most interesting feature of his cult is 
 the combined celebration of his death and resurrection. 
 The reason of this was due to the hopes which his 
 reawakening from death inspired in his worshippers. 
 
 LITERATURE. 
 
 On Adonis see Mannhardt, Wald-und Feldkulte ; Pauly- 
 Wissowa, Encycloptidie, I. 385 ff. ; Farnell, Cults of the Greek 
 States, ii. pp. 646 ff. ; see also Hastings' D.B. ; Enc. Bibl. 
 and Enc. Brit. sub. vcc. 
 
 Grazer, ibid. p. 189 f. 
 *Ibid. p. 191. 
 
168 HELLENISM AND CHRISTIANITY 
 
 TYRE. 
 
 Just as the Phoenician Adonis corresponds to the 
 Babylonian Tammuz, so the Tyrian Melcarth (King) 
 corresponds to the Babylonian Marduk. The Greeks 
 identified Melcarth 1 with Hercules, the son of Zeus and 
 Asteria (Astarte), who is said to have immolated him- 
 self at Tyre and to have ascended up to heaven in a cloud 
 and a peal of thunder. The festival of his death and 
 resurrection was celebrated in the month of Peritius 
 (January) and may be referred to in ii. Mace. iv. 
 18-20, as a quadriennial festival. 2 Quintus Curtius tells 
 us that every year the Carthaginians sent special 
 ambassadors to the festival of Melcarth at Tyre, their 
 mother-city. 3 At Gades, the modern Cadiz, in Spain 
 there was a temple of Melcarth (Hercules) where 
 Hannibal offered worship before he crossed the Alps. 
 There was no image of the god in the temple, only a 
 fire was kept burning on the altar. Priests, with 
 shaven heads and bare feet, officiated in white robes. 
 They were bound to chastity and probably to perpetual 
 celibacy. Every year the effigy of the god was burnt 
 and the idea was conveyed to the worshippers that their 
 god had been purified by the fire and Phoenix-like had 
 risen to a new life. At Carthage, the greatest of the 
 Tyrian colonies, a reminiscence of the custom of burning 
 a god or goddess in effigy seems to linger in the story 
 of the death of Dido, 4 the queen of the city. In later 
 
 J As to the God Melcarth see Roscher's Lexikon ii., 2, 2650 ff. 
 2 Frazer, op. at. p. 85. 
 3 Q. Curtius, iv. 2, 10. 
 *Virgil, Aen. iv. 473 ff. 
 
THE DYING SAVIOUR GOD 169 
 
 times, the fire walk (i.e. walking on hot stone) replaced 
 the old custom of burning the king or god. 1 Dr. Frazer 
 concludes that the death of Hercules was a Greek 
 version of the burning of Melcarth. 2 In like wise was 
 Sandan, the founder of Tarsus, worshipped. 3 The 
 people of his city erected a splendid pyre in his honour at 
 his periodical festival. Paul lived at Tarsus. Are we 
 not to suppose that he was influenced by the local 
 beliefs and practices, even though they were heathen ? 
 It was also to the heathen that he believed himself sent 
 as the Apostle of a new morality and religion. We 
 shall see how he allowed his new doctrine to be 
 influenced by the old heathen beliefs. 
 
 LITERATURE. 
 
 On Melcarth see Pauly, R. E. iv. 1734 ff. ; E. Meyer's 
 article in Roscher, ii. 2, 2650 ff., s. -v. Melquart and cf. ibid, 
 s. v. Melikertes, 2632 ff. 
 
 ASIA MINOR, 
 
 " Another of these gods " says Dr. Frazer, 4 " whose 
 supposed death and resurrection struck such deep roots 
 into the faith and ritual of Western Asia is Attis. He 
 was to Phrygia what Adonis was to Syria." When the 
 Romans in 204 B.C.E. accepted the worship of Cybele, 
 it is most probable that the Attis cult was introduced 
 at the same time. It was not very long before these 
 Oriental cults gained wide popularity. Cybele was 
 called the Mother of the Gods. She was a great 
 
 1 Frazer, op. cit. p. 88, who refers to Ezekiel xxviii. 14, 16. 
 , 2 Frazer, ibid. p. 90. 
 
 3 Ammianus Marcellinus, xiv. 8, 3, and Frazer, ibid, p. 99. 
 *Frazer, ibid. p. 219. 
 
170 HELLENISM AND CHRISTIANITY 
 
 Asiatic goddess of fertility. Attis was born miraculously 
 of the virgin Nana ; and like Adonis he was a beautiful 
 shepherd. There are two legends about his death. In 
 the Lydian account he dies like Adonis ; according to 
 the Phrygian version he dies in consequence of unman- 
 ning himself under a pine-tree, 1 after being maddened 
 by the jealous Cybele. After his death he is said to 
 have been changed into a pine-tree. This tree, the 
 ordinary Christmas tree, is the holy tree of Attis. 
 
 The Sibylline books had foretold that the foreign 
 invader (i.e. Hannibal) would not leave Italy until the 
 great goddess had been brought to Rome. 2 In 204 B.C.E. 
 the holy stone of Cybele was brought from Pessinus 
 to Ostia, and then in solemn procession it was taken 
 to Rome and erected in the temple of the goddess of 
 Victory on the Palatine Hill. 3 This was a memorable 
 event in the universal history of religion. It marked 
 the beginning of the gradual conquest of the West by 
 the East, in culture and religion ; a conquest of much 
 greater importance for the course of the world's progress 
 than was the conquest of the East by the Roman 
 legions. It was only in 54 C.E. that the worship of 
 Attis was formally permitted by the Emperor Claudius 
 as a state religion.* Of course, it had been observed for 
 many years prior to 54 C.E., but it had not received 
 official recognition in the established religion of Rome. 
 
 1 Ovid, Metam. x. 103 ff., and Arnobius, Adversus Nationes, 
 v. 7 and 16. 
 
 ^Frazer, ibid. p. 221. 
 
 3 Livy, xxix. 10, 11, and 14. 
 
 *Cumont, Les religions orientates dans le paganisme Remain 
 pp. 68 ff., and Hepdin^, Attis, seine My then und sein Kult. p. 
 145 ff. 
 
THE DYING SAVIOUR GOD 171 
 
 The festival of Attis was observed with great 
 ceremony in Rome at the time of the vernal equinox on 
 March 22nd. A pine-tree was cut down in the holy grove 
 of the goddess Cybele. The trunk of the tree was 
 entwined with white woollen bands and decked with 
 wreaths of violets ; and the image of the god was tied to 
 the middle of the stem. This was carried by special 
 officers (Dendrophores) into the temple on the Palatine 
 Hill. 1 Next day the feast of the Tubilustrium or ' purifi- 
 cation of the Trumpets ' took place. On March 24th the 
 'day of blood' was observed amidst wild music of 
 cymbals and flutes, and the priests danced madly around 
 the image of the god. Then the priests cut themselves 
 and their blood was sprinkled on the sacred image. 
 Many worshippers joined in the frenzy and dismembered 
 themselves and thereby sanctified themselves to the 
 deity. The 25th was the festival of joy (Hilaria) to cele- 
 brate the resurrection of the god. The next day was a 
 day of rest (Requietio). On the 27th the purification of 
 the image of the god took place. The ritual included 
 a procession to the stream Almo near Rome. The image 
 and the wagon on which the deity was carried, and the 
 sacred objects were washed in the stream. The rite 
 was known as the Lacatio or washing. 2 In other places 
 the image of Attis was buried. At night when the mour- 
 ning had produced the maximum excitement, a light was 
 suddenly kindled : the grave was opened : the god had 
 risen from the dead. The priest anointed with holy balm 
 
 1 On the festival,see Wissowa, Religion and Kultus der Romer, 
 pp. 264 ff. ; Cumont, op. cit. pp. 62, 69 f. ; Frazer, ibid. p. 222 ff.; 
 Roscher, op. cit. i. 1, pp. 721 ff., and Bruckner, op. cit. pp. 22 ff. 
 
 2 Cumont, ibid. p. 70. 
 
172 HELLENISM AND CHRISTIANITY 
 
 the lips of all partaking in the ceremony and softly 
 whispered the words, "Be comforted ye pious, for 
 the god has been saved, so shall salvation be sent to 
 you to deliver you from all distress." 1 
 
 This piece of heathen liturgy is of the greatest 
 importance, inasmuch as it demonstrates the fact that 
 the worshipper believed that he had entered into a real 
 communion with his god by participating in the rites of 
 the deity. The death of the god and his resurrection 
 were the guarantee to the worshipper of a like experience. 
 Does not Paul also in i. Cor. xv. adopt the same line of 
 argument ? Besides the public worship of Attis, there 
 were the mysteries of the god to which only the initia- 
 ted were admitted. Baptisms and ascetic rules, such 
 as little food and avoidance of sexual intercourse, were 
 part of the necessary preparations to obtain the needful 
 stage of purification. There was also a holy communion 
 or meal before one could become initiated into these 
 mysteries. The ' tokens ' or avowal of rites were as 
 follows : " I have eaten out of the Tympanon (drum). I 
 have drunk out of the Cymbalon (cymbal) and I am now 
 initiated." 2 The meal consisted of wine and bread, and 
 also of the otherwise prohibited fish. 3 We seem to be 
 dealing with the Christian Communion service. Another 
 act of initiation consisted of the sacrifice of the bull or 
 
 1 Firmicus Maternus, De erroreprof. relig. 22. Cumont draws 
 attention to the fact that the death of Attis brought divinity to 
 him (see also Reitzenstein, Poimandres, p. 93). Likewise Paul's 
 Christ only becomes the Son of God at the Resurrection. 
 
 2 Firmicus Maternus, ibid. 18. 
 
 3 Briickner, op. at. p. 24. 
 
THE DYING SAVIOUR GOD 173 
 
 the ram (taurobolium and kriobolium). 1 The person to 
 be initiated, crowned with gold and wreathed with 
 fillets, descended into a pit (like a grave), the mouth of 
 which was covered with strong trellis work. A bull, 
 adorned with garlands, was then driven on to the 
 grating and there stabbed to death with a consecrated 
 spear. The hot blood poured down into the pit and 
 the man was baptized in blood which he drank with 
 devout eagerness. Thus, " washed in the blood," he 
 ascended out of the pit, scarlet from head to foot, to 
 receive the adoration of his fellows as one newly born 
 again to eternal life. He then received divine honours, 
 on account of his supposed communion with the god. 
 His first meal after this ceremony consisted of milk a 
 symbol of his re-birth. 2 
 
 LITERATURE. 
 
 On Attis see Pauly-Wissowa, ii. 2, 2247 and Farnell, op. 
 cit. iii. pp. 300 f. 
 
 GREECE. 
 
 Closely connected with the Phrygian Attis worship 
 was the cult of the Thracian Dionysus. They were 
 both identified with Sabazius, a name which is said to 
 be connected with Sabaoth, one of the titles of the 
 God of Israel. 3 Dionysus was said to have been the 
 
 1 For the meaning of these terms see Cumont, op. cit. p. 83. 
 
 2 Cumont, op. cit. pp. 81 ff. and Frazer, op. cit. p. 229. 
 
 3 See Diodorus Siculus, iv. 4. Cumont (ibid. p. 79) points out 
 that the Ki/pto? 2,a/3ad)6 of the LXX was believed to be the 
 equivalent to the heathen Ki'pto? 2a/3at 09. See also Comptes 
 Rendus Acad. Inscr. (Feb. 1906, pp. 63 ff.) on Les mystrres df 
 Sabazius et le Judaisme. 
 
174 HELLENISM AND CHRISTIANITY 
 
 son of Zeus and his daughter Persephone. In early 
 youth his father gave him the right to rule the world, 
 but the jealous Hera invited the wicked Titans, the foes 
 of Zeus, to rebel against the son of the god. He 
 escaped in various guises (like the sun in the different 
 constellations) but at last he was caught when disguised 
 as a bull, and he was destroyed by his pursuers. In this 
 connection he was called Zagreus, i.e. "torn in pieces." 
 But every third year, after spending the interval in the 
 nether- world, he is born anew. According to the Orphic 
 legend the Titans swallowed the limbs of Dionysus, but 
 not the heart of the son of the god, which was brought to 
 Zeus, who swallowed it himself, whereupon a new 
 Dionysus was born. Then Zeus slew the Titans with 
 his lightning, and out of their corpses arose a new race 
 of men who had a dual nature, one wild like that of 
 the Titans, and the other divine like that of Dionysus ; 
 so that they can seek and find divine salvation 
 in communion with the God who was invoked as 
 (the Saviour-God). 1 His grave was shown at Delphi. 2 
 Secret offerings were brought to the shrine where the 
 grave was situated, while the women, who were 
 celebrating the feast of the god, woke up Dionysus 
 (Licnites) ; 3 in other words, they invoked the new-born 
 god cradled in a winnowing fan. Festivals of this kind, 
 in celebration of the death and resurrection of the god, 
 
 a See Miss Harrison, Prolegomena to the Study of Greek 
 Religion, pp. 432 ff. For the legends, see Seyffert, Dictionary of 
 Classical Antiquities (ed. Nettleship and Sandys) pp. 191 ff. and 
 Roscher, op. cit. i. 1, 1059. 
 
 2 Pausanias, viii. 30 f. 
 
 :> Plutarch, I sis et Osiris, 35. 
 
THE DYING SAVIOUR GOD 17 5 
 
 were held by women and girls only, every third year, on 
 the mountains at night about the time of the shortest 
 day of the year (December 22nd). The rites, intended to 
 express the excess of grief aud joy at the death and 
 resurrection of the god, were wild even to savagery. 
 The women had their hair entwined with snakes, and 
 in their hands they held flaming torches. The victims 
 of the sacrifice were torn in pieces and eaten raw, in 
 imitation of the death of Zagreus. The sacrificial meal 
 was believed to unite the worshipper with the god, and 
 thereby redemption from death would be bestowed 
 on all who joined in the mystery-rites. The mystery 
 meant that the worshipper himself experienced the 
 actual sufferings of the god. 1 
 
 Thrace and Asiatic Greece were the scene of the 
 wildest orgies. In Asia Minor the worship of Dionysus 
 Zagreus came to be associated with the equally wild 
 rites of Rhea (Cybele) and Attis. Like so many of the 
 Oriental deities, Dionysus Sabazius represented the 
 flourishing life of nature which sinks in death, always 
 to rise again. As an emblem of the yearly revival 
 of nature, the symbol specially appropriated to him was 
 the snake. Accordingly, at the celebration of his 
 mysteries, a golden snake was passed under the clothes 
 and drawn over the bosom of the initiated. 2 Another 
 version of the story was as follows : The torn limbs of 
 Dionysus were brought to Apollo and put together in 
 
 J Roscher, op. tit. \. 1, 1037, 1078. 
 
 -Clement of Alexandria, Protepl. ii. 16, cf. Theophrastus, 
 Characters, xxviii., (ed. Jebb), and Roscher, ibid. 1087. 
 
176 HELLENILM AND CHRISTIANITY 
 
 their right position and buried at Delphi. Origen knew 
 of the further tradition that after the limbs had been 
 put together, there was a resurrection. 1 This version 2 
 may be due to the influence of the Osiris cult. There 
 was indeed a striking resemblance between the ritual 
 of Dionysus and that of Osiris ; but it would be wrong 
 to identify the two religions, which, though certainly 
 akin in nature, are most probably independent in origin. 3 
 
 The vine was the sacred emblem of the worship of 
 Dionysus. One form of the legend tells how Diana 
 found the throbbing heart of the dismembered Dionysus 
 and buried it in the earth, and out of this seed of divine 
 life grew the vine. In John xv. 1, Jesus exclaims, "I 
 am the true Vine." Matthew lets Jesus assert that the 
 wine is his blood, and makes him also declare, " But I 
 say unto you, I will not drink henceforth of this 
 fruit of the vine, until that day when I drink it new 
 in my Father's Kingdom " (xxvi. 29). 4 
 
 In the mysteries of Eleusis, the Mother of Dionysus 
 was believed to have been Demeter. She was called 
 tepa irapOevos "the holy Virgin." 5 Demeter, Isocrates 
 says, brought to Attica "twofold gifts." These were 
 "crops" and the "Rite of Initiation." He adds that those 
 who partake of this rite have " fairer hopes concerning 
 the end of life." 6 An attempt has been made to 
 
 1 Briickner, op. cit. p. 26. 
 
 s See Miss Harrison, Religion of Ancient Greece, p. 52. 
 3 Herodotus, ii. 49, and Plutarch, Isis et Ostrts,3S, identified the 
 two religions. See also Frazer, op. cit. pp. 332, 344 and 357. 
 4 Jeremias, Babyl. im N.T. p. 33. 
 6 Jeremias, ibid. p. 47. 
 6 1 socrates, Panegyr. 28. 
 
THE DYING SAVIOUR GOD 177 
 
 establish some sort of connection between the two 
 gifts. It is believed that the Greeks saw in the sowing 
 of the seed and its uprising at spring-time, a symbol 
 of the death and resurrection of man's body and soul. 1 
 Paul and John have a similar idea. 2 The Rabbis, 
 likewise, use the argument for the resurrection from 
 the same analogy. 3 As we have seen, the God 
 Dionysus-Zagreus dies and comes to life again.* 
 
 For Greeks as for Christians, only the God, who 
 dies and comes to life again, can bring the hope of 
 salvation and immortality. Again, in the cult of 
 Dionysus-Zagreus the worshipper becomes one with 
 the god and thereby puts on immortality. "The 
 worshipper of Dionysus-Zagreus became Bacchos." 5 In 
 the Mysteries of Dionysus the aim is chiefly to have 
 communion with the deity, attained by eating the god, 
 by marrying him, or by being symbolically born anew 
 as the god. On an Orphic tablet the initiate soul is 
 greeted with the words : " Thou art become God from 
 man." 5 These ideas again are not unknown to Paul 
 and to the other New Testament theologians, who 
 speak of " putting on Christ," 6 of " Christ dwelling " 7 in 
 men, and of " being born again." 8 The worship of Diony- 
 sus-Zagreus was ascetic. The worshipper in the Mystery 
 
 1 Miss Harrison, op. cif. p. 51. 
 
 -\. Cor. xv. 36 f ; ibid. 42 ff. and John xxii. 20, and cf. 
 Heinrici, i Cor., p. 529 f. 
 
 3 T. B. Ketttboth 111 b. and T. B. Synhedrin 90 b. 
 
 *Eur. Frg. 475 and Miss Harrison, op. tit. p. 55. 
 
 5 Miss Harrison, op. cit. p. 56. 
 
 Rom. xiii. 14, Gal. iii. 27. 
 
 7 Rom. viii. 10, Gal. ii. 20. 
 
 8 John iii. 3, 7. M 
 
178 HELLENISM AND CHRISTIANITY 
 
 rites of the god was robed in pure white ; Tie abstained 
 from all kinds of meat, and also from all ceremonial pollu- 
 tion. Only by such asceticism could he hope to free the 
 divine element within him, and so be united with the 
 god. 1 Paul teaches also : " But if ye mortify the deeds 
 of the body, ye shall live." 2 Again, " Mortiiy therefore 
 your members which are on the earth " was written to 
 the Colossians by Paul or by one of his school. 3 Before 
 quitting this subject we may refer to the custom of 
 releasing prisoners observed at the Athenian festival of 
 Dionysus, 4 and at the Greek festival of Thesmophoria. 5 
 The parallel custom appears in the New Testament 
 account of Pilate's conduct on the occasion of the trial 
 of Jesus. 
 
 Like Adonis, Hyacinth is another mythical 
 being who has been interpreted as a personification of 
 vegetation which blooms in the spring and withers 
 under the glowing heat of the summer sun. 6 He belongs 
 to Greek, and not to Oriental mythology. The legend 
 tells how one day he was being taught by Apollo 
 to play quoits, when he was accidentally killed by a blow 
 of the god's quoit. From his blood, Apollo caused the 
 purple iris to spring up, just as anemones grew up from 
 the blood of Adonis. These vernal flowers heralded year 
 by year the advent of another spring and gladdened the 
 
 J Miss Harrison, ibid. p. 56 f. 
 2 Rom. viii. 13. 
 
 8 Col. in. 5. On asceticism in the teaching of Jesus, see my 
 Jewish Sources of the Sermon on the Mount, pp. 167, 264. 
 4 P. Foucart, Le culte d* Dionysos in Attique, p. 168. 
 6 Frazer, G. B. ii. Taboo, p. 316. 
 
 Roscher, op. tit. i. 2763 sq ; cf. also Rhode's Psyche (3rd. ed.) 
 i. pp. 137 ff. 
 
THE DYING SAVIOUR GOD 179 
 
 hearts of men with the promise of a joyful resurrection. 1 
 Like other festivals in honour of nature, the festival of 
 the Hyacinthia lasted three days and was connected 
 with the expression of grief at the death of the god 
 and of vegetation, as well as with the expression of joy 
 and hope in the reawakening of the god and of nature. 
 On the first day, which was dedicated to silent mour- 
 ning, sacrifice to the dead was offered at the grave of 
 Hyacinth. The following day was spent in public 
 rejoicing in honour of Apollo, in which all the populace 
 took part. The people went in festal procession with 
 choruses of singing children, accompanied by musicians 
 with harps and flutes. This outburst of gaiety may be 
 supposed to mark the resurrection of Hyacinth and 
 probably also his ascension to heaven, which was rep- 
 resented on his tomb. 2 It has been suggested that the 
 ascension was celebrated on the last day of the festival. 
 
 LITERATURE. 
 
 On Dionysus see Farnell, op, tit. v. pp. 85 ff. ; Pauly- 
 Wissowa, Encydopddie, v. i. 1010 ff. ; Miss Harrison, Prolego- 
 mena to the Study of Greek Religion, pp. 418 ff., and 480 ff. 
 
 On Hyacinth see Fr azer, Attis, p. 262 note 1, for literature. 
 
 EGYPT. 
 
 In ancient Egypt the death and resurrection of 
 Osiris were* celebrated with alternate sorrow and joy 
 every year. Originally he was held to be a vegetation 
 god, especially of the com. He was identified with 
 
 1 Frazer, Adonis, pp. 262 ff. 
 
 2 Pausanias. iii. 1, 3. quoted by Frazer. ibid. p. 263. 
 
180 HELLENISM AND CHRISTIANITY 
 
 Adonis, 1 and his worship extended far and wide. In 
 course of time new attributes were added to his per- 
 sonality. He attained the position of the supreme god 
 in his role of Serapis ( = Osiris and Apis of Egypt, or 
 Osiris and Apsi of Babylon). Plutarch 2 has given us 
 an excellent account of his myth, but much help has 
 been furnished in our days by the study of the Egyptian 
 monuments and records. Osiris is the son of the Earth- 
 god Geb or Keb and the Sky-goddess Nut. When 
 the Sun-god Ra perceived that his wife Nut had been 
 unfaithful to him, he vowed that she should not be 
 delivered of a child on any day during the lunar year. 
 Nut had another lover and good friend in Thoth or 
 Hermes, who won for her from the Moon-god one- 
 seventy-second part of each day (i.e. the five days of inter- 
 calation added to the days of the lunar year), and 
 on each of these five days she had a child. On the first 
 day Osiris was bom ; on the second, Horus (the elder) ; 
 on the third, Set ; on the fourth, the goddess Isis ; on 
 the fifth, the goddess Nephthys. 3 When Osiris was 
 born a mighty voice was heard crying aloud that the 
 Lord of All had come into the world. 
 
 According to the legend, Osiris reigned twenty- 
 eight years as a king on earth. He delivered the 
 primitive Egyptians from the reign of barbarism, for he 
 taught them the art of sowing corn as well as fruit and 
 vine culture. He also went to other lands to diffuse 
 knowledge. On his return to Egypt his wicked 
 
 1 Frazer, ibid., pp. 28 and 269. 
 2 Plutarch, Isis et Osiris, 12-20. 
 3 Diodorus Siculus, i. 13. 4. 
 
THE DYING SAVIOUR GOD 181 
 
 brother Set conspired against him. He made a costly 
 coffer exactly the same size as Osiris, and promised to 
 give it as a present to the one whom it should exactly 
 fit. When Osiris, in ignorance of his cruel brother's 
 treachery, was persuaded to try and win the prize, he 
 consented to get inside, whereupon Set closed the lid 
 and nailed it down, and threw it into the Nile. The 
 coffer was carried by the waves to Byblus, where it was 
 encased by the king of that port in a pillar within his 
 palace. When Isis learned of the loss of her brother 
 and husband, she sheared off a lock of her hair, put on 
 garments of mourning, and sought her beloved one far 
 and wide. At last she found him, and having obtained 
 possession of the coffer containing him, she returned 
 with it to the Nile Delta and hid it among the rushes. 
 Set, whilst hunting in the moonlight at full moon (i.e. 
 the fourteenth day of the month), found Osiris. He cut 
 up his body into fourteen parts, and scattered them 
 abroad. 
 
 With great lamentation Isis went in her boat up 
 and down the stream seeking the pieces of the body of 
 Osiris. Plutarch says that she buried them wherever she 
 found them. 1 Another Egyptian tradition says that she 
 collected the limbs together and with her sister 
 Nephthys sang a dirge in profound grief. This sorrow 
 moved Ra to pity, and he sent from heaven the jackal- 
 headed god Anubis, who, assisted by Thoth and Horus, 
 put together the dismembered pieces of Osiris, swathed 
 
 1 This accounts for the many graves of Osiris in Egypt, see 
 Plutarch, Isis et Osiris, 18. 
 
182 HELLENISM AND CHRISTIANITY 
 
 them with linen bandages and performed all the cus- 
 tomary burial rites of the Egyptians. Then Osiris 
 awoke to life again, and ever since that time he rules as 
 King and Judge of the dead in the nether- world. 1 All 
 the dead must appear before his judgment-seat and 
 make their confession before him, then they will receive 
 the reward of their virtues in eternal life or the punish- 
 ment of their sins in annihilation. The confession in 
 the Egyptian Book of the Dead is supposed to be that 
 uttered by the departed. This confessson is very 
 similar in certain parts to the parable of the judgment 
 of the world in Matthew xxv. 31 ff. : "I gave bread to 
 the hungry " of the Confession recalls, " For I was an 
 hungered, and ye gave me meat " (Matt. xxv. 35). 
 
 In the awakening to life of Osiris, the Egyptians 
 saw the guarantee of immortality for themselves and 
 their departed ones. The dead man is identified with 
 Osiris and bears his name. " As surely as Osiris lives, 
 so shah 1 he live also ; as surely as Osiris did not die, so 
 shall he not die ; as surely as Osiris cannot be destroyed, 
 so shall he not be destroyed." 2 This resurrection of the 
 dead was thought to be like the reawakening of Osiris, 
 not merely in a spiritual sense, but also in a material 
 sense. The dead have their heart, senses, mouth, 
 and all their limbs. 
 
 The festival of Osiris was held in the autumn from 
 the 17th to the 20th of Athyr (13th to the 16th of 
 November). 3 This was the time when the Nile fell, 
 
 1 Erman, Die dgyptische Religion^ pp. 35 ff. and Frazer, op. 
 dt. pp. 271 ff. 
 
 2 Frazer, op. dt. p. 275. 
 
 p. 318, and Plutarch, op. dt. 39. 
 
THE DYING SAVIOUR GOD 183 
 
 and the corn was then sown. The sowing of the corn 
 appealed to the old Egyptians as the burial of the 
 divine element, and " it was fitting that like a human 
 burial it should be performed with gravity and the 
 semblance, if not the reality, of sorrow." 1 The Psalmist 
 also sings, but from a more natural point of view, 
 " They that sow in tears shall reap in joy " (cxxvi. 5 f.). 
 
 The festival was celebrated annually with great 
 pomp. It was but natural that different customs should 
 obtain in different localities. Processions took place 
 and the sufferings of the god were displayed as a 
 mystery. 2 The latter represented the mournful search 
 for the dead Osiris, and the joyful discovery of the god 
 and the happiness associated with his resurrection. 
 With a people like the old Egyptians with whom the 
 belief in a future life played such an important part, 
 Osiris, the God who guaranteed a future existence, must 
 have been looked upon as a deity of the first 
 magnitude. 
 
 A great feature of the festival was the nocturnal 
 illumination. It has been suggested by Dr. Frazer 8 that 
 this custom "may have been a commemoration not 
 merely of the death of Osiris, but of the dead in 
 general ; in other words, that it may have been a Night 
 of All Souls." 4 
 
 Osiris the corn-god became in course of time 
 
 1 Frazer, op. tit. p. 295. 
 2 Herodotus, ii. 170. 
 *Op. tit. p. 301. 
 
 4 The custom of lighting lamps for the dead obtains in Jewish 
 practice. 
 
184 HELLENISM AND CHRISTIANITY 
 
 identified with the Sun-god, and as we have seen, as 
 Serapis he became the supreme God. The great 
 antiquity of his cult, the majestic pomp of his ritual, 
 the organized priesthood and the magnificent processions 
 procured for his cult an easy entrance into the Roman 
 world, and helped to transmute the old Roman State 
 worship into a new religion, the inheritance of which 
 was gladly accepted by the Christian Church. The 
 Church Fathers were well acquainted with the heathen 
 cults of the Egyptians. 
 
 Lactantius tells us, " In Egypt there are sacred rites 
 in honour of Isis, since she either lost or found her 
 little son. For at first her priests, having made their 
 bodies smooth, beat their breasts, and lament, as the 
 goddess herself had done when her child was lost. 
 Afterwards the boy is brought forward, as if found, and 
 that mourning is changed into joy. Therefore Lucian 
 says : ' And Osiris never sufficiently sought for.' For 
 they always lose and they always find him." 1 
 
 Again, Tertullian writes : " Osiris also, whenever 
 he is buried, and looked for to come to life again, and 
 with joy is recovered, is an emblem of the regularity 
 wherewith the fruits of the ground return, and the 
 elements recover life, and the year comes round again." 2 
 
 Osiris most have appealed to the more refined 
 classes of the Egyptians because he was represented in 
 human form, and was never associated with any animal 
 figure. It has been suggested 3 that the historic basis of 
 
 1 Divine Institutes ; I. xxi. 
 * Adv. Marc, l.xii. 
 3 Frazer, op. cit. 351 ff. 
 
THE DYING SAVIOUR GOD 185 
 
 the Osiris myth is to be traced to the struggles of tribes 
 who worshipped different gods and who fought together 
 until one overcame the other. The god of the conqueror 
 is then considered to have overcome the god of the 
 vanquished. " The struggle of Horus and Set is 
 expressly stated on the Temple of Edfu to have been a 
 tribal war" between the followers of Horus and Set. 
 " Osiris was the god of a tribe which occupied a large 
 part of Egypt. The kings of this tribe were sacrificed 
 after thirty years' reign (like the killing of kings at fixed 
 intervals elsewhere) and they thus became the Osiris 
 himself. Their bodies were dismembered .... and the 
 bones distributed among the various centres of the tribe. 
 - . . .The worshippers of Set broke in upon this people, 
 stopped their worship, or killed Osiris, as was said, and 
 established the dominion of their animal god. They 
 were in turn attacked by the Isis worshippers, who 
 joined the older population of the Osiris tribe, re-opened 
 the shrines, and established the Osiris worship again. 
 The Set tribe returning in force, attacked the Osiris 
 tribe and scattered all the relics of the shrines in every 
 part of the land. To re-establish their power the 
 Osiris and Isis tribes called in worshippers of the hawk- 
 Horns, who were old enemies of the Set tribe, and with 
 their help finally expelled the Set worshippers from the 
 whole country." 1 
 
 Osiris is believed to have been the national god as 
 early as the beginning of the pre-historic culture. He 
 was worshipped as a ruler of the dead, and not as a god 
 of action in the affairs of men on earth. 
 1 Petrie, The Religion of Ancient Egypt, p. 40 f. 
 
186 HELLENISM AND CHRISTIANITY 
 
 In the form of Serapis, 1 Osiris was identified by the 
 Ptolemies with Zeus, both in appearance and by 
 attributes. By the time of Nero, Isis and her son 
 Horus were claimed to be the deities of all the world. 
 Isis and Horus, the Queen of Heaven and her Holy Child, 
 became the most popular deities of Egypt. Horus, 
 carried by his mother in her arms, appears in the 
 terra cotta images " in a form that is indistinguishable 
 from that adopted by Christianity soon after." 2 
 
 Isis, the Virgin goddess, and Horus her son still 
 ruled in the Church, although the names were changed. 3 
 Egyptian theology contributed no small quota to the 
 Trinitarian controversies, which rent the Church for so 
 many centuries. Christian monasticism and asceticism 
 owe their origin to similar Egyptian heathen institutions. 
 
 The Egyptian deities were commonly arranged in 
 trinities of a simple and natural type, each comprising 
 a father, a mother and a son. Dr. Budge tells us that 
 " speaking generally, two members of such a triad were 
 gods, one old and one young, and the third was a god- 
 dess, who was, naturally, the wife, or female counter- 
 part, of the older god. The younger god was the son 
 of the older god and goddess, and he was supposed to 
 possess all the attributes and powers which belonged to 
 his father. . . . The son .... was nearly as important 
 as his father. . . . The conception of the triad or 
 trinity is, in Egypt, probably as old as the belief in 
 gods, and it seems to be based on the anthropomorphic 
 
 1 Frazer, op. cit. 349 f. 
 
 2 Petrie, The Religion of Ancient Egypt, p. 91. 
 'The resemblance of Isis to the Virgin Mary has often been 
 pointed out. See Drexler, in Roscher, op. cit. ii. p. 428 ff. 
 
THE DYING SAVIOUR GOD 187 
 
 views which were current in the earliest times about 
 them." 1 
 
 It is not at all improbable that Philo owed his con- 
 ception of a Trinity to Egyptian influence. We have 
 already seen how he, in his turn, has influenced the 
 Christian Church with reference to the Logos and the 
 Trinity. 
 
 LITERATURE. 
 
 A. Erman, Agypten und dgyptisches Leben im Altertum ; 
 Wiedemann, Religion of the Ancient Egyptians (1897) and his 
 article in Hastings' Dictionary of the Bible ; Petrie, Religion 
 and Conscience in Ancient Egypt (1898), and E. A. Wallis 
 Budge's Osiris. 
 
 PERSIA. 
 
 The last Oriental religion to find a home in Europe 
 was the cult of Mithras, a Persian god. 2 His religion 
 spread very quickly in the Roman Empire shortly after 
 its introduction by the Cilician pirates captured by 
 Pompey. 3 As far as England and Wales* in the West, 
 and the Rhine and the Donau in the near East, this 
 worship was introduced by the Imperial soldiers. 
 Mithras was known as the Sun-god (Sol Invictus). 5 He 
 was the light that saw all things with his thousand 
 
 1 The Gods of the Egyptians, i. pp. 113 ff. 
 
 2 See Cumont's article on Mithras in Reseller's Lexikon, ii. 2. 
 and also Cumont, Textes et Monutents figures relatifs aux 
 Mysteres de Mithras. 
 
 3 Plutarch, Vit. Pompei, 24. 
 
 4 Roscher, ii. 2. 3034. 
 
 5 On Mithras as a Sun-God, see Robertson, Christianity and 
 Mythology, p. 36. See also Roscher, op. cit. 3029. 
 
188 HELLENISM AND CHRISTIANITY 
 
 eyes, and heard all things with his thousand ears. 1 His 
 cult was closely connected with the cult of the Great 
 Mother of the Gods (Magna Mater) at Rome, whose 
 influence served in no small degree to protect and to 
 popularize it. His connection with Anahita, the god- 
 dess of fruitfulness, as well as his role as the slayer of 
 bulls, may indicate his original nature as having been a 
 vegetation-god. 2 Be this as it may, Mithras is held to 
 belong to the category of gods who die and rise to life 
 again. On the monuments he is shown ascending to 
 heaven in the car of the Sun-god. 3 When, in course of 
 time, he was worshipped as the Sun-god there was no 
 need to refer to his death. 
 
 The cult of Mithras was the most ethical of all the 
 heathen Oriental religions. The god was believed to 
 have led a pure and holy life. 4 He did not marry nor 
 did he seek intercourse with any of the goddesses. His 
 religion was based on ethical principles. His followers 
 were charged to live in harmony as the children of one 
 Father. They were thereby to be united in their 
 obedience to their god and in their loyalty to one 
 another. Purity was their watchword. Their god was 
 the personification of truth. 5 Holy meals or communion 
 sacrifices united them in the solemn rites of their 
 worship with their god, whose help they constantly 
 needed in their conflict with temptation and evil. 
 
 1 Roscher, op. cit. 3029. 
 
 2 Jeremias,^4. T.A.O. p. 106 ; Cumont, Les Religions Orientales^ 
 p. 175. 
 
 Roscher, op. cit. 3050. 
 
 4 See Farnell, Evolution of Religion, p. 127. 
 
 'Roscher, op. cit. 3029. 
 
THE DriNG SAVIOUR GOD 189 
 
 According to the legend, Mithras was born in a 
 cave. 1 Now a very early tradition tells us that the birth 
 of Jesus did not take place in a stable, but in a cave. 2 
 Shepherds are the first to offer worship to Jesus as well 
 as to Mithras at their birth. a Mithras was called the 
 Rock-born ; 4 likewise in i. Cor. x. 4, Jesus was called 
 the Rock. This designation was later on transferred to 
 Peter (Petrus = Kephas). Peter was the chief apostle 
 of Jesus, and to him also were given the cock and the 
 keys, two of the symbols of Mithras. 5 
 
 The chief deed of Mithras was the slaying of the 
 bull, a mythical creature of the Creation, for out of its 
 blood all the fertility of the earth arose. Because of 
 this cosmic act Mithras was accounted the Creator of 
 all (Stj/miovpyos). Another sacrifice of the bull will 
 again take place at the end of the ages to bring about 
 a new creation of the world. 7 Mithras, who performs 
 the sacrifice, is considered to be the world-redeemer, 
 through whom the new creation will take place, and 
 who will then revive the dead. 8 The followers of 
 Mithras believed not only in the resurrection, but also 
 
 1 Roscher, ibid. 
 
 'Justin, Dial. c. TrypJi. 78; Z.f.d.N.T.W. 1902. p. 359, and 
 cf. Gospel of Birth of Mary, 13. 
 
 3 Roscher, op. dp. 3047, and Jeremias, Babl. im N.T. p. 56. 
 
 4 Justin, Dial. 70. 
 
 5 Roscher, op. cit. 3039 for illustration showing the God with 
 cock and keys. 
 
 6 Roscher, op. cit. 3051 f. 
 
 7 The first religious act performed by Adam, says the Midrash, 
 was the slaying of a bull (T. B. Aboda Zara 8a.). 
 
 8 Cumont, Textes^\. 184 ff. and Roscher, op. cit. 3055. See also 
 Clemen, Religionsgeschichtliche Erkldrung des N.T. p. 203 f. 
 
190 HELLENISM AND CHRISTIANITY 
 
 in the immortality of the soul. 1 In his relation to the 
 gods, Mithras occupied an intermediary position. He 
 was the Mediator (/ueo-fV*??) between Ahura-Mazda and 
 humanity ; he was also the victorious helper of the God of 
 good against his enemy Ahriman, the God of evil. 2 
 
 In the New Testament we meet with the idea of 
 the faithful forming the army of Christ (Militia Christi). 
 This term has probably been borrowed from the custom 
 of the followers of Mithras, 3 who also formed themselves 
 into a spiritual army. The members of this army were 
 called milites or soldiers. 4 Both the followers of Jesus 
 as well as the worshippers of Mithras believed that 
 their fight was not directed against human beings, but 
 against the powers of darkness, the evil spirits beneath 
 the heavens (cf. Eph. vi. 10 ff.). 
 
 Exceedingly important is the fact that Mithras 
 took over the role of the Persian Messiah Soshyans, 5 
 who at the end of time will be born of a virgin, 
 and will come from the far East to redeem the world 
 by putting an end to death. He will eventually 
 overcome Ahriman, the God of Evil, and then in 
 glory will he rule over a renewed world. Mithras 
 is the creator, the mediator and the redeemer. 
 Dr. Bruckner tells us that Soshyans was also called 
 Astvaterta or God-made-flesh. 6 Here also we have a 
 
 1 Tertullian, De praescr. haeretic. 40. 
 2 Cumont, Textes^ i. 300. 
 3 Cumont, op. tit, \. 317. 
 4 Roscher, op. cit. 3033. 
 6 Windischmann, Mithra, pp. 73 ff. 
 *Op. cit. p. 31, and see above, p. 100. 
 
THE DYING SAVIOUR GOD 191 
 
 form of the Incarnation, but it would not be wise to 
 draw any conclusion from this parallel, as we do not 
 know sufficient of its implication. Mithras plays his chief 
 role in the hereafter. At the moment when the soul of 
 man has to cross the terrible bridge Gin vat, 1 Mithras 
 is present to conduct the departed into the next world. 
 All the souls of the dead must appear before him, 
 because he is their judge. 
 
 In course of time, the Mithras-cult became 
 associated with astrology. This is evident from the 
 monuments, where Mithras is surrounded by the seven 
 planets or Amesha-Spentas. 2 Another point of contact 
 with astrology is shown by the presence of the twelve 
 signs of the Zodiac on the monuments which record the 
 life and deeds of Mithras. 3 In the crypt where 
 Mithras was worshipped there was a relief in the back- 
 ground depicting him as a slayer of the bull. In the 
 centre was the holy fire. The initiated were divided 
 into seven classes. 4 They called one another " brother," 
 just as obtains to this day in Catholic monasteries. The 
 chief of the community was styled Summit $ pontifexf 
 who was probably the pater patrum (Father of the 
 Fathers) as in the Attis worship. He was only allowed 
 to marry once. The law of Jesus also permitted only 
 one wife. Among the followers of Mithras, as well as 
 
 1 Roscher, op. cit. 3055. 
 
 ''See Moffatt in Hibbert Journal, 1903-4. ii. p. 350 f. 
 3 Roscher, op. cit. 3057. Cumont tells us that this feature was 
 due to Babylonian influence. 
 * Roscher, op. cit. 40. 
 5 Tertullian, op. cit. 40. 
 
192 HELLENISM AND CHRISTIANITY 
 
 among the followers of Jesus, were virgins and celibates 
 who had taken the vow of perpetual chastity. 
 
 Tertullian called the acts of initiation of the Mithras 
 cult Sacraments^ These sacraments had both a ritual 
 as well as an ethical meaning, and consisted of baptisms, 
 holy meals, and anointing of the forehead, which 
 Tertullian compares with the rites of Christian con- 
 firmation. Neither the theology nor the ritual gave the 
 religion of Mithras its supreme importance, for this was 
 due to its dualistic belief and its fine ethical system. 
 Its dualism did not mean the opposition between spirit 
 and matter, soul and body, but between light and 
 darkness, good and evil, truth and falsehood. Not God 
 versus the world, but the good God contrasted with the 
 evil God. The conflict between the two powers in 
 heaven and on earth forms the drama of the world's 
 history, which will culminate in the victory of the good 
 God. This dualism suggested to man a practical 
 interest in life, for was it not his duty to help his God 
 in overcoming evil ? 
 
 Mithraism had positive precepts (ei/roAa/) 2 which 
 we no longer know. It laid the greatest stress on truth, 
 and taught the love of man to his fellow creatures. 
 Such a morality touched the innermost chords of the 
 human heart, insisting on pure thoughts, clean words 
 and holy deeds. The dualism of Mithraism is again 
 found in Christianity, and Mithraism may therefore be 
 
 -Cumont, Les Religions Orientates, pp. 187 and 308. 
 
THE DYING SAVIOUR GOD 193 
 
 regarded as a valuable predecessor which prepared the 
 way for the Church, which eventually proved to be its 
 incessant enemy and persecutor. Mithras, like the 
 Christ or the Logos, was not only creator and mediator, 
 but also the invincible foe of the satanic powers. 
 Mithras is therefore called ar/KJ/ro? (invictus, insuper- 
 abilis) who leads his servants when they fight against 
 the powers of darkness. 
 
 LITERATURE. 
 See Roscher, ii. 2, pp. 3030, 3057 and 3071. 
 
 ROME. 
 
 In Rome the Attis cult was associated with the 
 old Persian Mithras cult, the latter being introduced long 
 after the former had been established. The two forms 
 of religion were closely united in all parts of the Roman 
 Empire. In respect both of doctrine and ritual, the cult 
 of Mithras appears to have presented many points of 
 resemblance not only to the religion of Attis and Cybele* 
 but also to Christianity. 1 Tertullian noted the simi- 
 larity and, like Justin and other Church Fathers, 
 explained this coincidence as the work of the demons, 
 who tried to seduce the souls of men from the true 
 religion of Christ by a false and insidious imitation of it. 2 
 Augustine admits that the priest of Cybele argued saying, 
 " et ipse Pileatus Christianus est " that even he him- 
 self dressed in the cap (a Phrygian head-dress of Attis) 
 
 1 Cumont, Textes, \. pp. 333 ff., and see above, p. 169 ff. 
 'Tertullian, De Corona 15, and Frazer, op* cit. p. 253, and cf. 
 above, p. 135 f. O 
 
194 HELLBNISM AND CHRISTIANITY 
 
 is also a Christian. 1 Attis and his chief priest in Rome 
 both had the name of Pope (Papas) and the priest 
 styled himself ' pater patrum ' (Father of the Fathers). 
 He, like the Pope of the Christian Church, wore a 
 triple crown and the Papal chair itself has come down 
 from heathen times. On the site of St. Peter's at 
 Rome there once stood the temple of Attis. We can 
 see that the Christian Church has absorbed to a con- 
 siderable extent the rites and customs of the Attis- 
 Mithras cult. 
 
 Dr. Frazer 2 has taught us that the festival of 
 Christmas was borrowed by the Church from the 
 religion of Mithras. "In the Julian calendar the 
 twenty-fifth of December was reckoned the winter 
 solstice, and it was regarded as the Nativity of the Sun, 
 because the day begins to lengthen and the power of 
 the sun to increase from that turning-point of the year. 
 If we may trust the evidence of an obscure scholiast 
 the Greeks used to celebrate the birth of the luminary 
 at that time by a midnight service, coming out of the 
 inner shrines and crying, " The Virgin has brought forth ! 
 The light is waxing ! " Mithras was identified with the 
 Sun (Sol Invictus), hence his nativity also fell on 
 December 25th. Dr. Frazer also tells us that the 
 Easter celebration of the death and resurrection of 
 Christ appears to have been influenced by the similar 
 celebration of the death and resurrection of Attis, which 
 was held at Rome at the same season. 3 The tradition 
 
 1 7/. evang. tract. 7. p. 1140 (Migne). 
 2 Frazer, op. cit. pp. 254 if. 
 id. p. 256. 
 
THE DYING SAVIOUR GOD 195 
 
 which placed the death of Christ on the twenty-fifth of 
 March was ancient and deeply rooted. It had no 
 historical foundation. The inference is inevitable that 
 the celebration of the death of Christ must have been 
 arbitrarily fixed on that date in order to harmonize 
 with the heathen celebration of Attis at the vernal 
 equinox. There are other heathen festivals which have 
 been replaced by Christian feasts. " The coincidences 
 of the Christian with the heathen festivals are too close 
 and too numerous to be accidental. They mark the 
 compromise which the Church in the hour of its 
 triumph was compelled to make with its vanquished 
 yet still dangerous rivals." 1 Not only was Christmas 
 borrowed by the Church from the cult of Mithras. "The 
 use of bell and candle, holy water and the communion ; 
 the sanctification of Sunday, .... the insistence on 
 moral conduct, the emphasis placed on abstinence and 
 self-control ; the doctrine of heaven and hell, of primitive 
 revelation, of the mediation of the Logos emanating 
 from the Divine, the atoning sacrifice, the constant 
 warfare between good and evil and the final triumph of 
 the former, the resurrection of the flesh and the fiery 
 destruction of the universe are some of the resemblan- 
 ces which, whether real or only apparent, enabled 
 Mithraism to prolong its resistance to Christianity." 2 
 
 LITERATURE. 
 
 See Cumont in Roscher and his Les Religions Orientates, 
 cf. also 'Mithras' in Enc. Britt. (1911), and Albert Dieterich, 
 Eine Mithrasliturgie. 
 
 1 Frazer, op. cit. p. 260. 
 
 *Enc. Britt. (1911), xviii. 624, and Cumont, in Roscher, op. 
 cit. 3066. 
 
POSTSCRIPT. 
 
 IT may be asked, To what purpose is such a 
 limited study of some of the origins of Christianity ? 
 Our answer is two-fold : (1) to popularize the study of 
 Comparative Religion, and (2) to enable the reader to 
 learn the truth as to the connection between Christian- 
 ity and Judaism on the one hand and the Hellenistic 
 Oriental religions on the other. No religious system ever 
 fell down from heaven ready-made and complete. 
 Religion is the result of a human want, and not of 
 heavenly need. We can now summarize the results 
 which our consideration of the facts has suggested. 
 
 The various Hellenistic cults, in spite of their 
 different customs and ceremonies, betray a unity and 
 possess many similar rites and beliefs which point to a 
 common origin. This is specially to be seen in the 
 underlying fact that all these cults speak of a Dying 
 God who comes to life again. There was a marked 
 difference between the Oriental religions and the State 
 religions of the early Greeks and Romans. The State 
 religions considered above all else political interests, and 
 demanded the subordination of the individual interest to 
 that of the community. On the other hand, the Oriental 
 religions were quite indifferent to the well-being of the 
 
 196 
 
POSTSCRIPT 197 
 
 State. Their chief interest was concerned with the 
 individual and his future salvation. Instead of the 
 patriot there arose the saint. 
 
 We have already drawn attention to the historical 
 fact that Judaism with its strict monotheism was unable 
 to come to terms with the Hellenistic heathen cults. 
 In most of the Oriental religious the central figure of 
 the worship was a Saviour-God, who was not the 
 Supreme God. This chief God was considered 
 to be removed far away from men, enthroned 
 above the stars, whilst the Redeemer-God appears 
 on earth in the guise of a human being, who is born, 
 who suffers, and who dies ; whose life is entwined with 
 the lives of ordinary men and women, but who shows his 
 Divinity by being quickened from the dead and ascending 
 to heaven. The risen God will save all who believe in 
 him, and will bestow on the faithful eternal life. Hence 
 arose the Mysteries of the God, through which the faithful 
 entered into communion with the Redeemer-God, and 
 were thereby guaranteed the salvation for which they 
 longed. Here we find much that has its parallel in 
 Christianity. We have shown that Easter 1 and Christ- 
 mas, Baptism and Holy Communion, were all known to 
 the Hellenistic cults before the birth of Christianity. 
 The attempt to find the origin of these institutions of 
 the Church in Judaism has been shown to be im- 
 probable. As an instance in point, let us very briefly 
 consider the Easter celebration. 
 
 1 The name itself is a survival of heathen mythology. Neither 
 the New Testament nor the Apostolic Fathers speak of the 
 Easter festival. 
 
198 HELLENISM AND CHRISTIANITY 
 
 One party in the Church, influenced by Jewish 
 tradition, fixed Easter on the date corresponding to the 
 Jewish Passover, the 14th of Nisan ; but if this date did 
 not happen to be on a Sunday, the festival was post- 
 poned to that day. This custom was opposed by othere, 
 who celebrated the festival on the 14th of Nisan what- 
 ever day it might happen to be. There may have been 
 in this custom a conscious attempt to deny any con- 
 nection between Easter and the heathe n festivals. 
 
 The Church festival of Easter consisted of three 
 parts : (l)The fast before Easter, (2) the Easter Vigil, 
 and (3) the breaking of the fast on Easter morning. 
 The length and manner of the fast varied in different 
 localities. The Vigil was observed by keeping awake 
 all night, singing psalms and prayers either in the home 
 or in the places of prayer. At midnight or at cockcrow 
 the fast was broken, and the Agape or meal of love 
 was taken. The Sunday was especially the day of joy, 
 " Dominicus gaudii " i.e. the Sunday of rejoicing. It 
 must not be supposed that the Easter fast is the Jewish 
 fast observed by the first-born on the 14th of Nisan. 
 This fast was only observed by the male first-born 
 among the Hebrews, whereas in the Church the Easter 
 Fast was kept by all the faithful Christians. Epiphanius 1 
 draws attention to the differences between the Passover 
 and Easter, although he believes that the latter was 
 influenced by the former. The Jewish Passover signifies 
 
 x Cf. also Epistle of Cyril of Alexandria to Pope Leo I. 
 (Bailer, i. p. 601). 
 
POSTSCRIPT 199 
 
 the redemption of Israel from human bondage whilst 
 Easter signifies the death and resurrection of the God- 
 Saviour of the Christians. In other words, the Jewish 
 festival is historical, whereas the Christian festival is theo- 
 logical. We have seen how important the 25th day of 
 March was in the festival of Attis, and in many Christian 
 communities in the Hellenistic world this day became 
 identified with the Christian Easter Day. This was 
 especially the case in such places where the Attis worship 
 flourished, as in Phrygia, Galatia, and perhaps in Rome. 
 This coincidence of place and time is too striking to 
 admit of any other explanation save that of direct 
 borrowing on the part of the Church. Further con- 
 firmation of this conclusion may be seen in the way in 
 which the festival was celebrated. In the Grek Church 
 we find to this day an exact reproduction of the heathen 
 rites. In the Church the image of the dead Christ is 
 placed on a catafalque ; fasting and weeping obtain. 
 Then the image is carried in solemn procession to be 
 buried, and is afterwards brought back from the grave 
 into the Church. At even-time on Easter Day lights 
 are brought into the sacred place, and the cry is heard 
 " The Lord has arisen, he has verily arisen ! " Lamen- 
 tation and the fasting cease, and the worshippers are 
 full of joy and happiness because the god has come to 
 life again. 1 If, then, as we see, such an Easter festival 
 owes its origin to heathen sources, is it not a fair 
 inference that its accompanying message and teaching 
 have also arisen from the same source ? 
 1 See Bruckner, op. cit. p. 44. 
 
200 HELLENISM AND CHRISTIANTITY 
 
 Our present task is done. We wish the facts to 
 apeak for themselves, and we rely on the goodwill of the 
 reader to accept or reject the conclusions arrived at, for 
 truth is eternal and can never be overcome. 
 
INDEX OF SUBJECTS AND NAMES. 
 
 Abi 'Ad* 3 f. 
 
 Abraham ben Isaac Shalom, 
 
 108 
 
 Acts, author of, 49 
 Adam and slaughter of bull, 
 
 189 
 
 and inherited sin, 89 
 
 and pre-existence, 104 
 
 as Messiah, 106 ff., 113 
 
 first and second, 44 f. 
 AdamJ., 34, 45, 58 f. 
 Adapa, 100, 157 
 Adeney, 95, 97 
 
 Adon, 160 
 Adonai, 94 
 Adonis, 145, 147, 149, 159ff. 
 
 and Osiris, 180 
 
 Mysteries of, 161 
 
 as corn-spirit, 167 
 
 Egyptian cult of, 162 
 
 Greek cult of, 162 f. 
 
 cult of and Jews, Ib4 
 
 and Easter, 165 
 
 and Jesus, 166 
 ./Csculapius and Jesus, 134 ff. 
 Agape, 198 
 
 Ahab, mourning for, 145 
 Ahriman and Mithras, 190 
 Ahura-Mazda and Mithras,190 
 Akiba (R.), 133 
 Alexander the Great and Hel- 
 lenism, 26 f, 30 
 
 worshipped by Greeks, 27, 
 
 29 
 
 birth of, 35, 127 
 
 as Son of God, 29, 127 
 
 Alexander au Saviour-God, 30 
 Alexandrian Gnosticism, 101 
 All Souls, night of, 183 
 Allegory among Greeks and 
 
 Hebrew:;, 43 
 Ambrose, 45 
 Amesha-Spentas, 191 
 Ammianu.'i Marcellinus, 169 
 Ammpn, 30 
 
 Anahita and Mithras, 188 
 * Ancient of Days,' 2 
 Androgynes, 106. 
 Anemone and Adonis, 160 
 Animal world-powers in Dan- 
 iel, 10 
 
 "Anointed," 18 
 Aphrodite, 143, 159 f., 163 
 
 - and Virgin Mary, 159 
 
 - and O.T., 164 
 Afiocalypse of Baruch, 89 
 Apocalyptic teaching and 
 
 Judaism, 13, 89 
 
 Apocalyptics, Jewish, and Di- 
 vine Messiah, 2, 12 f., 98 
 
 Apocrypha, 63 
 purpose of, 64 
 
 Apocryphal Jewish literature 
 and the Church, 9,63, 81 
 
 Apollo and Jesus, 50 
 
 Anollodorus, 163 
 
 Apologists, Christian, 45 f. 
 
 Apotheosis, 28, 38 
 
 Aramaic, and "Son of Man," 
 'JO 
 
 Archangel, 120 
 
 201 
 
202 
 
 INDEX 
 
 Archelaus, 53 
 
 Army of Christ and Mithras 
 
 cult, 190 
 Arnobius, 170 
 Arrian, 31 
 
 Asia Minor, cults of, 169 ft". 
 Ascension, 82, 117, 157 
 Asceticism, Christian, 178, 186 
 - Heathen, 177 f. 
 
 and Paul, 178 
 Associates of Jesus, 19 
 Assumption of Moses, 82 
 Assyrian Kings, 28 f. 
 
 inscriptions, 146 
 Astarte, 160 
 
 Astvaterta (Soshyans), 190 
 Attis, 149, 169 ft'. 
 
 and the Romans, 169 ft". 
 
 and Cybele, 169 flf. 
 
 virgin birth of, 170 
 
 death of, 170 
 
 tree of, 170 
 
 cult of, in Rome, 171 f. 
 Mithras cults and Chris- 
 tianity, 194 f. 
 
 Atoning Sacrifice, 195 
 Augustine, 73, 193 
 Augustus, 27, 40 f. 
 
 birth of, 40 
 
 as a God, 40 f. 
 Avowal of heathen rites, 172 
 
 Baal (god of Syria), 145 
 Babes of Bethlehem, 40, 127 
 Babylon, 104 
 Babylonian Kings, 28 f. 
 
 myths, 100, 154 ff. 
 
 religion, 154 ff. 
 
 trinity, 155 
 Bacher, 103 
 
 Baldensperger, 11, 14, 17 
 Baptism, 37, 141, 157, 192, 197 
 Barabbas, 122 
 
 Barnabas as a God, 48 
 Barnasha, 3, 20 f. , 
 Bar Niphle, 21,'25 
 
 Baudissin, 145, 161 
 Bauer, A., 38 
 
 B., 14 
 
 Beer, Dr., on name of Messiah, 
 
 16 f. 
 
 Bell and Candle, 195 
 Ben Sira, 79 
 Bentwich, 123 
 Bethlehem, 52, 166 
 Bible, 43 
 Birth of Messiah, 5 f. 
 
 of Jesus and Augustus, 41 
 Birthday of Greek Gods, 31 
 
 of Augustus, 41 
 Birth narratives in Gospels,50f. 
 Biur, 4 
 
 Blood baptism, 173 
 Bohu, 104 
 Bois, 60 
 Book of the Dead and N.T., 
 
 182 
 Bousset, 1, 18, 20, 25, 55, 87, 
 
 100 
 
 Box, G.H., 111 
 Bread and Wine, 172 
 Brehier, 85, 125 
 ' Brothers ' in Mithras-cult,191 
 Bruckner, ix., 113, 138, 147, 
 
 152, 162 f., 164 ff., 171 f. 
 
 176, 190, 199 
 Budde on Is. liii., 131 f. 
 Budge on Trinity, 186 f. 
 Bull sacred to vegetation-god, 
 
 152 f. 
 
 slain by Adam, 189 
 by Mithras, 189 
 
 Bishop, 72 
 
 Burial in red robes, 156 
 Byblus, 159 f. 
 
 Caesar, 39 
 
 Carthaginian cult of Melcarth, 
 
 168 
 
 Century Bible, 6 
 Chseronea, 26 
 Charles, Dr., 25 
 
INDEX 
 
 203 
 
 Charles, Dr., on Enoch, 13, 110 
 
 Son of Man, 13, 21 
 
 pre-existing Messiah 
 
 16 fif. 
 Test. xii. Pat. 81, 
 
 115 
 
 Cheyne, 146 
 Christ as Manna and Rock, 
 
 80 
 
 High Priest, 81, 115 
 
 Heavenly Light, 116 
 
 of Paul, 46 
 
 as Creator, 70 
 
 Son of God, 70 
 
 and Archangel, 120 
 
 as Mediator, 121 
 Christ-Logos and Wisdom, 73 
 Christ Myth. 1 ff. 
 Christian Church, x., 117 
 
 Messiah, 81 
 
 interpolations in Enoch, 
 
 14 f., 18 
 
 in Jewish literature, 14, 
 
 98, 110, 115 
 
 Saints and heathenism, 
 
 37 
 
 Christianity and the Logos, 
 59 
 
 and Stoicism, 59 
 
 and Pharisaic Judaism, 82 
 
 as an Oriental Religion, 
 
 142 f., 148 f. 
 
 and Hellenism, x., 134 ff., 
 
 140 ff. 
 
 and Judaism, x., 143 f. 
 
 Mythology, 144 
 
 and Heathenism, 37 f. 
 
 Syncretic Religion, 149 
 
 and cult of Osiris, 184 
 
 and Isis and Horus, 186 
 
 and Attis-Mithras cults, 
 
 194 f. 
 Christmas Day, 37 
 
 Tree, 170 
 
 and Mithras cult, 194, 197 
 Christology, ix. 
 
 Christology and Logos, 45 
 
 of N.T., 82 
 
 in Luke, 52 f. 
 Church and LXX., 9 
 
 and Psalms of Solouwn, 9 
 
 and Enoch, 13 
 
 and Mithraism, 189 f., 192 f. 
 - Fathers and Philo, 123 
 
 Chochma, 64 
 Cinvat, bridge, 191 
 Classes of men in Philo, 110 
 Clemen, 51, 99 f., 189 
 Clement, Dr., 20 
 
 of Alexandria, 175 
 'Cloud' inWisdom andPhilo, 25 
 
 Son of, 21 
 Cock and Keys, 189 
 Cohen, H., 36 
 Cohn, 86 
 
 Communion with Deity, 172, 
 175 
 
 Holy, 37, 141, 172, 188, 192, 
 
 195, 197 
 
 Comparative Religion, ix., 196 
 Compromise and Christianity, 
 
 137 
 
 in Religion, 57 f., 137, 184, 
 
 194 f. 
 Constellation of the bull, 153 
 
 of the ram, 153 
 Corn, sowing of, -183 
 Creating Logos, 44 
 Creation of Wisdom, 66 f. 
 Creator, Messiah as, 116 
 
 Logos as, 115 
 Crucifixion, 82, 122, 144, 148 f. 
 Cult of Heroes in Greece, 32 
 Cult-God, Jesus as Jewish, 1 
 Cumont, ix., 138, 149, 151, 
 
 170 f., 173, 187 ff., 190 ff., 
 193, 195 
 
 Cybele, Priest of, as a Chris- 
 tian, 193 f. 
 
 and Attis, 169 ff. 
 
 at Rome, 170 
 Cymbal on, 172 
 
204 
 
 INDEX 
 
 Cyril of Alexandria, 161, 198 
 
 Dahne, 125 
 
 Damons, 32, 135 
 
 Dalman, on text of EnocJi, 17f. 
 
 on transcendent Messiah, 
 
 19 
 
 on " Son of Man," 20 
 
 on 'Lord 'in N.T., 93 f. 
 Daniel, Apocalypse of, 2 
 
 and ' Son of Man,' 10 f. 
 Date of Apocalyptic Messianic 
 
 doctrines, 13 
 
 'Dayspring,' Messiah as, 119 
 Deane, 72 
 Death and resurrection of 
 
 Marduk, 158 
 
 Hyacinth, 179 
 
 Tammuz, 156 f. 
 
 Adonis, 160 ff, 167 
 
 Mithras, 188 
 
 Osiris, 141, 161, 179 ff., 
 
 182 
 Hercules or Melcarth, 
 
 168 
 
 Sandan of Tarsus, 169 
 
 Attis, 171 f., 194 
 
 Dionysus, 174 f. 
 
 of God-Messiah, 130 ff., 
 
 133, 138 
 
 of Christ and Heathen 
 
 rites, 137 
 
 of Greek Gods, 31 f. 
 Deification, 28, 126 
 Deissmann, ix., xi., 39 ff., 129 
 Deity of Jesus, 51, 118, 126 
 Dendrophores, 171 
 Dialogue with Trypho, 133 ff. 
 Diaspora, Jews of, 42, 55 
 Didache, 20 
 
 Dido, 168 
 
 Dieterich, 195 
 
 Dio Cassius, 40 
 
 Diodorus Siculus, 30, 173, 180 
 
 Dionysus and Attis, 173 
 
 Sabazius, 173 ff. 
 
 Dionysus Zagreus, 174 f. 
 
 Licnites, 174 
 
 Mysteries of, 175 ff. 
 
 and Vine, 176 
 
 Festival of, 178 
 
 rites of and N.T., 177 f. 
 
 and Jesus, 134 ff. 
 ' Divine Hero,' 3 
 
 Divine humanity and Hel- 
 lenism, 28, 126 
 
 immanence, 116 
 
 Messiah, 2 ff. 118, 126 
 and iv. Ezra, 130 
 
 Image in Philo and Paul, 88 
 
 Power and Wisdom, 69 
 Divinity of Egyptian Kings, 28 
 Alexander, 30 f. 
 
 Greek Kings, 32 
 
 at death of Christ and Attis, 
 
 172 
 
 Divus (title), 28 
 
 ' Dominicus gaudii,' 198 
 
 Domitian, 22 
 
 Drews, 1 ff., 6, 10 ff., 19, 22, 
 146 
 
 Drexler, 186 
 
 Driver, 12, 14, 20 
 
 Drummond, 4, 12, 60, 72, 83, 
 85, 102, 111/., 125 
 
 Dualism in Mithraism and 
 Christianity, 192 f. 
 
 Duhm, 3 
 
 Dying God and Jewish teach- 
 ing, 130, 138 
 
 God-Messiah in O.T., 146 
 
 Saviour-God, 140, 148 ff. 
 
 Son of God, 126 ff. 
 
 Ea,155f. 
 
 Earthly Man, 110, 114,118 
 Easter and Heathen rites, 137, 
 140, 165, 195 
 
 and Adonis, 165 
 
 - and Attis, 194, 199 
 
 and Passover, 198 
 
 Fast, 198 
 
 Celebration, 197 ff. 
 
INDEX 
 
 205 
 
 Easter, origin of, 199 
 Ecclesiastes, 63f. 
 Ecclesiasticus, 83 
 
 and N.T., 79 
 
 and Philo, 80 
 
 and Wisdom, 79 
 Effulgence, 69 
 
 Egyptian Kings, diyinity of, 
 28 f. 
 
 belief and Christianity, 
 
 186 f. 
 
 cults, 179 ff. 
 
 Gnosticism, 101 
 "Egyptian" Messiah, 24 
 ' El Gibbor,' 3, 5 
 'Elect One,' 18 
 Eleusis, mysteries of, 176 
 Empedocles, 33 
 Encyclopaedia Biblica, 49, 159, 
 
 et passim 
 
 Britannica, 167, 195, et 
 
 passim 
 
 Enoch, Christian interpola- 
 tions in, 14 f., 18 
 
 Eth. and Messiah, 9, 12, 
 
 98, 110 
 
 Book of, and Talmud, 13 
 date of, 13 
 
 and Gospels, 14 
 
 and Jude, 81 
 
 Epicureanism and Wisdom of 
 Solomon, 63 f. 
 
 Epiphanius, 198 
 
 Epistle of Barnabas, 75 
 
 Epistle to the Hebrews, 45 f. 
 
 and Wisdom of Solo- 
 mon, 70 f., 85 
 
 Epistles of Paul, 86 f. 
 
 Eresh-Kigal, 156 
 
 Erman, 182, 187 
 
 Euhemerus, 37 
 
 Eusebius, 72 
 
 on Philo, 45 
 Evangel, 40 f. 
 Evangelists, 46, 49 
 
 Ezekiel and Tammuz-Wor- 
 ship, 154 
 
 Ezekiel, Son of Man in, 11 
 Ezra iii. and Messianicidoc- 
 trine, 12, 22, 98, 128, 130 
 
 date of, 22, 133 
 
 and sin^of Adam, 89 
 
 Fairweather, 65, 83 
 
 Faith, 129 
 
 Farnell, 32, 37, 167, 173, 180, 
 188 
 
 'Father of Eternity,' 3 
 
 Feine, P., 73, 96, 128 
 
 Fire Walk, 169 
 
 Firmicus Maternus, 172 
 
 First Adam and Logos, 44 
 
 as Messiah, 105, 113 
 
 in Rabbinic literature, 
 
 107, 109 
 
 'First-born,' 111, 119 f. 
 
 First Man, 98 ff. 
 
 and Messiah, 100 
 
 Flaminius, T. Q., 38 
 
 Foucart, 178 
 
 Frankel, 60, 62 
 
 Frazer, ix. 28, 32 f., 35, 53, 137, 
 149ff.,152,155,157,159ff. f 
 162, 165 ff., 169, 171, 173, 
 176, 178 ff., 182 ff., 188ff., 
 194 
 
 Friedlander, M. v 60, 69, 101 
 
 Friedlander, G., 25 
 
 Gamaliel, 91, 97, 105, 107, 116 
 Gardens of Adonis, 162 f. 
 
 and O.T., 164 
 
 Gardner, Dr. Percy, 8 f., 13 f., 
 
 36, 53 
 Garvie, 94 
 Gayomard, 100 
 GefFcken, 133, 136 
 German Bible, 7 
 GfrOrer, 125 
 Ginzberg, 106 ft 
 Glover, 140, 142 f. 
 Gnosticism, 101 
 
206 
 
 INDEX 
 
 God, the light of Israel, x. 
 
 of the O.T., 31 
 
 in Philo, 43 
 
 as Father of Messiah, 114 f. 
 
 Dying, in Judaism, 144 
 God-made-flesh, 190 
 God-man Messiah, 99, 127 
 God-men in Greece, 31, 126 f. 
 
 in Philo, 44 
 
 God-Messiah, death of, 130 ff. 
 Gd of Vegetation as Sun- 
 God, 152 
 
 Golden Bough, 137, et passim. 
 Gospel According to the He- 
 brews, 115 
 
 of Birth of Mary, 188 
 Gospels and Enoch, 14 
 
 authors of, 49 
 
 contradictions in, 47 
 
 Jewish and Hellenistic ele- 
 
 ments in, 47 
 
 and Greek philosophy, 59 
 
 and Hellenism, 127 
 
 and birth narratives, 50 
 Grace of God, 122 
 Graetz, 57 
 
 Grafe, 68 f. 
 
 Greece, cults of, 173 ff. 
 Greek evangelists and trial of 
 Jesus, 48 
 
 Deities, 31, 134 ff. 
 
 Schools and Religion, 34 
 
 influences in Philo, 123 f. 
 
 in Palestine, 42 
 
 in Talmud and Midrash, 43 
 
 Church and Heathen rites, 
 
 199 
 
 for 'Son of Man,' 20 
 
 Myths and Nativity, 127 
 
 origin of Alexander's wor- 
 
 ship, 30 
 
 Mysteries in N.T., 177 
 
 Religion, nature of, 31f., 
 
 36 f. 
 
 Greeks, kingdom of, 104 
 Gressmann, 5, 13 
 Grill, 60, 73, 125 
 
 Grimm, 83 
 
 Grotius, 72 
 
 Grove in Greek worship, 30 
 
 Gunkel, ix., 1 ff., 6 f., 13,20, 
 65, 98, 100, 126, 129, 133, 
 138 f., 141, 144, 146, 149, 
 159, 165 
 
 Guthe, 6 
 
 Hadad, 145 
 Hadadrimmon, 144 ff. 
 Hades, 117 
 Hannibal, 168, 170 
 Harnack, 49, 129, 133, 136, 141 
 Harrison, Miss, 174, 176 ff. 
 Hart, J. H. A., 129 
 Hastings' D.C.G., 81, 94, 102, 
 
 113, 116f., 118, 121, 123, 
 
 128 
 
 D.B., 13 f., 25, 28 f., 53, 
 
 63 f., 79, 82, 101 f., 146, 
 
 155, 159, 167, 187 
 Hatch, 91, 129 
 Headlam, 108 
 
 Heathen-Christian circles, 48 
 Heathen mythology and J esus, 
 
 134 ff., 140 ff. 
 
 gods, nature of, 149 f., 177 
 
 rites in Greek Church,! 99 
 Heathenism and Christianity, 
 
 136 f., 140 ff. 
 
 and Judaism, 143 
 Heaven and Hell, 195 
 Heavenly pre-existence of 
 
 Messiah, 18 
 Hebraic religion, 35 
 
 and Philo, 123 f. 
 
 Hebrew Bible and Mythology, 
 
 100 
 
 Months, origin of, 154 
 Heinrici, C.F.G., 108, 177 
 Heinze, 60, 72, 125 
 Hellenism and Christianity, 
 
 x. f., 26 ff., 37 f. 
 
 and Alexander the Great, 
 
 26 
 
INDEX 
 
 207 
 
 Hellenism, dawn of, 26 
 
 meaning of, 26 f., 56 
 
 and Toleration, 27 
 
 in Gospels, 127, 141 
 
 in Paul's writings, 128 
 
 and King-worship, 27 f. 
 
 and Divine humanity, 28 
 
 and religion, 27 f. 
 
 cults of, 37, 140 ff. 
 
 and European civilization, 
 
 38 
 
 and Romans, 38 
 
 and Judaism, 42, 123 f. 
 
 in N.T., 48, 140 f. 
 
 in Philo, 121 
 Hellenistic cults, ix., 141 f. 
 
 Jews, 42 f. 
 
 Judaism, 43, 55, 57, 124 
 
 words, 41 
 
 worship, 36 
 Hellenization of Christianity, 
 
 46 f. 
 
 of Jesus, 48, 134 ff., 141 f. 
 Hennecke, 115 
 
 Hepding, 170 
 
 Heracliti* and the Logos, 58f. 
 
 Hercules, 168 
 
 Hermes and Jesus, 134 ff. 
 
 Hero-worship in Greece, 32 
 
 Herod, 40, 52 
 
 Herodotus, 158, 176, 183 
 
 Herriot, 62 
 
 Hesiod, 32 
 
 Hezekiah, name of, 3 
 
 Hibbcrt Journal Supplement, 
 
 92,95 
 High Priest, Logos as, 44, 86, 
 
 114 f. 
 
 Hilaria, 171 
 Hitzig, 145, 
 Holtzmann, 105, 109, 112, 133 
 
 on Son of Man, 11 
 Holy meals, 141 
 
 Spirit and Wisdom, 72, 115 
 
 Virgin, 176 
 
 water, 195 
 
 Homeric Gods, 37 
 Horton on pre-existent Mes- 
 siah, 6 
 Horus, 28 
 
 and Set, struggle of,185 
 
 and I sis, 186 
 Hiihn, 79, 87 
 
 Humanity as Divine, 28, 126 
 Hyacinth, 178 f. 
 Hyacinthia, 179 
 
 Ibn-Ezra, 3, 10, 66 
 Ibn-Gannach, 66 
 Idealism, 58 
 Image of God, Messiah as, 
 
 88, 119 
 Incarnation, 28 f., 97 f., 117, 
 
 138, 143 
 
 of Logos, 59 
 
 of Wisdom, 116 
 
 of Persian Messiah, 19.1 
 Interpolations in Book of 
 
 Enoch, 14, 98, 110 
 
 in Philo, 123 
 Isaac of Troki, xi. 
 Isaiah, mythology in, 131 
 
 liii. in Synoptic Gospels 
 
 and Paul, 131 ff. 
 Ishtar, 143, 155 ff. 
 
 and O.T., 164, 
 Isis and Horus, 186 
 
 and Christianity, 186 
 Isocrates, 176 
 
 Israel, the light to the Gentiles, 
 
 x. 
 Israel's unbelief, x. 
 
 James, M. R., on Messiah of 
 Pss. of Solomon, 8 
 
 Jeremiah and Heathen wor- 
 ship, 143 
 
 Jeremias, A., ix., 41, 98, 155, 
 157 ff., 162, 164, 176, 
 188 ff. 
 
 Jerome, 145, 166 
 
208 
 
 INDEX 
 
 Jesus, records concerning, 46 f. 
 
 in Palestine, 46 
 
 in Hellenistic circles, 47 
 
 and Philo, 122 
 
 hellenized, 48 
 
 as God, 1 
 
 as King of the Jews, 49, 
 
 127 
 
 date of birth and death, 53 
 
 birth story of, 51 f. 
 
 and his mother, 52 
 
 poverty of, 97 
 
 and Mithras, 189 f. 
 
 and Apollo, 50 
 
 andGreekMythology,134ff. 
 
 and Adonis, 166 
 
 deity of, 51 
 
 and chronology, 52 f. 
 
 apotheosis of, 42, 134 ff. 
 
 associates of, 10 
 
 cult of, 42 
 
 as a Messiah, 24 
 
 and Paul, 105 
 
 as " Son of God," 34, 48, 
 
 134 ff. 
 
 as Messiah, 127 
 
 and Paul's Messiah, 92 f., 
 
 138 f. 
 
 as Kyrios, 42 
 
 - death of, 49, 137 
 Jew and his heritage, x. 
 Jewish Christian circles, 48 
 Jewish Encyclopedia, on Paul's 
 
 Second Adam, 103 ff. 
 Jewish Hellenism and Rabbin- 
 ism, 57 
 
 Messiah, 8, 22 f., 98, 105, 
 
 110 f., 116 f., 143, 147 
 
 Liturgy and Messiah, 24 
 Jewish. Quarterly Review, 64 
 
 Sources of the Sermon on 
 
 the Mount, ix., 25, 49, 122, 
 
 176 
 
 Jews and Paul, 128 
 Joel, M., 55 
 John, 45, 49 
 
 John and Wisdom of So! a: ion, 
 72 
 
 and Resurrection, 177 
 Jonah and Tammuz-Adonis, 
 
 164 f. 
 
 and N.T., 165 
 Josephus and Luke, 49 
 Josiah, death of, 145 
 Judaism, nature of, 58 
 
 and dying god, 143_f. 
 
 and Hellenism, 197 
 
 and Incarnation, 143 
 
 and Christianity, x., 143 f. 
 
 and Heathenism, 143 
 
 and Messianic idea, 143 
 Jude, 81 f. 
 Judeo-Alexandrian literature, 
 
 56 
 
 Justin Martyr, 133 ff., 147, 
 189, 193 
 
 on origin of Greek My- 
 thology, 135 ff. 
 
 Ka, 28 
 
 Kabbala, 109 
 
 Karabas, 122 
 
 Kautzsch, 4, 6 f., 8 f., 16, 25, 65 
 
 Kautzsch's O.T., 131, 146, 159 
 
 Kennedy, H.A.A., 108 
 
 Kenosis, 97 f. 
 
 Kephas = Peter, and symbols 
 
 of Mithras, 189 
 Keys and Cock, 189 
 Kimchi, 3 
 King-worship, 29 
 Kingdom of God, 11 
 Kittel, 8 f. 
 
 Koheleth see Eccelesiastes 
 Koine, 38, 43 
 Krauss, 43 
 Krenkel, 49 
 Kriobolium, 173 
 Kyrios, 41 
 
 Lactantius, >84 
 
INDKX 
 
 209 
 
 Laertius (Diogenes), 33 f. 
 Lamps for dead, 183 
 Last Adam, 91, 108 f. 
 
 in Rabbinical teaching, 
 
 112 
 
 in Philo, 112 f. 
 
 in Paul, 113 
 
 Lavatio, 171 
 
 Lebanon and Adonis cult, 160 
 
 Levy (Dictionary), 4 
 
 Liberal Judaism, 124 
 
 'Ucnites' 174 
 
 Lietzmann on ' Son of Man,' 20 
 
 Lightfoot, 107 
 
 Liturgy,Jewish,andMessiah, 24 
 
 Livy, 170 
 
 Logos, 25, 42, 44 f., 58 f. 
 
 as Son of God, 70, 86 
 
 as High Priest, 44, 86, 114 f. 
 
 as ' Very Image of God,' 
 
 69,85 
 
 as Mediator, 44 f., 86, 120 
 
 as Creator, 70, 115 
 
 as First Adam, 44, 86, 113 
 
 as God-Man, 44 
 
 personality of, 72, 85 
 
 and Christian Apologists, 
 
 46 
 
 and Christianity, 59, 195 
 
 doctrine of, and Judaism, 
 
 82 
 
 as Messiah, 84, 120 
 
 Mediation of, 195 
 
 in Jewish Hellenistic liter- 
 
 ature, 59 f. 
 
 of Philo, 60, 81 
 
 of N.T., 45, 60, 81 
 
 in Justin Martyr, 134 ff. 
 
 as Archangel, 120 
 
 as Rock, 85 
 
 as first-born son, 86, 114 
 
 as Man of God, 86 
 
 as Paraclete, 86 
 
 Mother of, 114 
 
 Logos = Messiah in Philo, 
 102 f., 120 
 
 Logos as Last Adam, 113 
 
 as Light, 116 
 
 as Michael, 117 
 Lord in N.T., 93 f- 
 Lord's Prayer, 82 
 Lucian, 160 f. 
 
 Luke and Greek inscriptions, 
 41 
 
 and Life of Jesus, 49 
 
 and chronology, 52 f. 
 
 and Josephus, 49 
 
 and Philo, 122 
 
 LXX., 25, 42 f., 60 f., 66, 78 f., 
 83, 91, 132, 154, 173 
 
 and the Church, 61 f. 
 
 and the N.T., 62 f. 
 Lysander of Sparta, 33 
 
 Ma'aseh Bereshith, 117 
 
 Merkabah, 117 
 Maccabees, 36 
 Macrobius, 145, 155, 160 
 Magi, 127 
 
 Magna Mater and Mithras, 
 
 188 
 
 Maimonides, 150 
 Man-God cult, 28 
 
 in Philo, 44 
 
 Manna, 78, 88 
 Mannhardt, 167 
 March 25th, 171," 195, 199 
 Marcion and Gospels, 53 
 Marduk, 147, 157, 168 
 
 as Mediator, 158 
 
 as Saviour-God, 157 f. 
 Margolis, 130 
 
 Mark and Life of Jesus, 49 
 Marti, 12, 146 
 
 ' Master-Workman' in Pro- 
 verbs viii. 30., 65 f. 
 Matter and Spirit, 58 
 Matthew and Life of Jesus, 49 
 Media, 104 
 Mediator, 120 f. 
 Megiddo, 145 
 
210 
 
 INDEX 
 
 Melcarth, 147, 168 f. 
 
 identified with Hercules, 
 
 168 
 
 Melikertes, 169 
 Melquart, see Melcarth 
 Merodach see Marduk 
 Messiah in Targum, 4, 120 
 
 in Daniel, 12 
 
 birth of, 5 f. 
 
 as Logos, 84 ff. 
 
 as Logos in Philo, 102 f., 
 
 120 
 
 as First Adam, 105 
 
 as pre-existing Adam, 104 
 
 as Son of God, 115 
 
 as Light, 116 
 
 = Spirit of God, 103 
 
 sinless, in Paul, 107 
 
 spiritual, in Paul, 107 
 
 as Creator, 116 
 
 as High Priest, 81, 115 
 
 pre-existent, 1, 6, 16, 97 
 
 divine, 2 ff. 
 
 ben David, 147 ^ 
 
 ben Ephraim, 147 
 
 ben Joseph, 147 
 
 dying, 130, 144 
 
 Persian, 190 
 Messiahs, 24 
 
 Messianic doctrine in Test, 
 xii. Pat., 23 
 
 of Paul, 97 ff. 
 
 in Philo, 23, 120 
 
 in Judaism, 143 
 
 of Jewish Liturgy, 24 
 
 and O.T., 11, 24 
 
 of N.T., ix. 
 
 of Enoch, 12 f. 
 
 titles in N.T., x., 1 ff. 
 
 doctrine of iv. Ezra, 12 
 
 name, 16 
 
 titles in Talmud, 21 
 
 doctrine in Pss. of Solomon, 
 
 22 f. 
 
 Meyer, E., 28, 169 
 Michael as Logos, 117 
 
 Midrash, 189 
 
 and Greek, 43 
 
 and Paul, 103 ff., 116 
 
 and Philo, 104 
 Mission of Israel, x 
 Missionary Work, xf. 
 Mithras, 151, 187 ff. 
 
 introduced in Roman Em- 
 
 pire, 187 
 
 and Attis Cult at Rome, 
 
 193 ff. 
 
 as Sun-God, 187 
 
 as Vegetation-God, 188 
 
 and Magna Mater, 188 
 
 and Anahita, 188 
 
 ethical cult of, 188 
 
 and purity, 188 
 
 and slaughter of bull, 189 
 
 birth of, and Jesus, 189 
 
 as Rock-born, 189 
 
 symbols of, and N.T., 189 
 
 as Creator, 189 
 
 as world-redeemer, 189 
 
 as Mediator, 190 
 
 army of, 190 
 
 as S6shyans, 190 
 
 as Messiah, 190 
 
 Incarnation of, 190 f. 
 
 as Judge of the Dead, 191 
 
 cult of, and astrology, 191 
 Mithraism and Christianity, 
 
 189 f., 192 f. 
 Moffatt, 91, 191 
 Monasticism, 186 
 Montefiore, C.G., 18 
 Months, Hebrew, 154 
 Moore, 109 
 
 Morning Star and N.T., 166 
 Myrrha, 160 
 Mysteries, Greek, 37, 53, 175, 
 
 177, 197 
 
 of Adonis, 161 
 Mysterious birth of Messiah, 
 
 5f. 
 
 Mysticism, 37, 56 
 Mythology, 35, 148 ff., 180 
 
INDEX 
 
 211 
 
 Mythology and New Testa- 
 ment, 165f., 172 f., 176 ff. 
 
 in Isaiah, 131 
 
 and Christianity, 134, 144 
 
 Name of Messiah, 16 
 
 premundane, 17 
 
 ideal, 17 
 
 Nativity, 82, 121 
 
 and Greek Myths, 127 
 - date of, 53 
 
 Nazareth, 52 
 Neve Shalom, 108 
 N.T. and Jewish Hellenism, 
 55 ff., 81 
 
 and Pharisaic Judaism, 82 
 
 and Test. xii. Patriarchs, 
 
 81 
 
 Theology and Jewish Hel- 
 
 lenism, 82 
 
 and Philo, 84 ff. 
 
 and Resurrection, 141 
 
 and Dionysus rites, 177 ff. 
 
 Christology and Philo's 
 
 Logos, 45 
 
 and LXX., 02 f. 
 
 and Book of Enoch, 14 
 of the Dead, 182 
 
 and Heathenism, 41 
 
 and Apocrypha, 41 
 Non-Canonical Books, 117 
 
 O.T. conception of God, 43 
 
 and Paul, 94 
 
 and Christology of Paul, 
 
 101 
 
 Texts in N.T., 140 
 Onias III., 146 
 Onkelos, Targum of, 25 
 'Only-begotten,' 73 
 Oriental Heathen cults, 37,138 
 
 Mysticism, 37 
 
 religions, 56 f. 
 Origen, 17."> 
 
 Original Man in Paul and 
 Philo, 105 f. 
 
 Orphic legend of Dionysus, 
 174 
 
 Tablet, 177 
 Osiris, 149, 179 ff. 
 
 and Adonis, 161, 180 
 
 as Corn-God and Sun-God, 
 
 183 f. 
 
 birth of, 180 
 
 life of, 180 f. 
 
 and Set, 181, 185 
 
 death of, 181 
 
 and Isis, 181 ff. 
 
 in human form, 184 
 
 and immortality, 182 
 
 festival of, 182 f. 
 
 mystery of, 183 
 
 cult of and Christianity, 
 
 184 
 Ovid, 170 
 
 Paganism, Greek, 37 
 Palestinian Jewish theology 
 105, 110 f., 117 
 
 Judaism, 55, 82, 116 
 Pan-Hellenism, 30 f. 
 Parsi-Mythology, 100 
 Passover and Easter, 198 f. 
 Paul and Virgin Birth, 53 
 
 and Philo, 85 
 
 and ' Rock,' 87 f. 
 
 and Divine Image, 88 
 
 and Second Adam, 88 ff. 
 
 soteriological doctrines of, 
 
 89 
 
 Messiah of, and Jesus, 92f. 
 
 113, 138 
 
 and O.T., 94 
 
 and use of ' Lord,' 94 f. 
 
 Christ of, and God, 118 
 
 and Rabbinism, 129 
 
 and the Heathens, 128, 169 
 
 and Gnosticism, 101 
 
 and Hellenistic Judaism, 
 
 102 
 
 and Tarsus, 169 
 
 and LXX. version, 102 
 
212 
 
 INDEX 
 
 Paul and Gamaliel, 91/97, 105, 
 107 
 
 and Midrash, 103 ff. 
 
 and Resurrection, 177 
 
 and Asceticism, 178 
 
 and the Book of Wisdom, 
 
 68 ff., 74 ff., 81 
 
 and Jesus, 105 
 
 Christ of, and Philo's Logos, 
 84 ff. 
 
 and the Rabbis, 87, 101, 
 
 103, 129 
 
 and " Son of Man," 20 
 
 and Christianity, 46 
 
 as a God, 48 
 
 Pauline Messiah, 106 f. 110, 
 
 120, 126, 128 
 as First-born, 120 
 
 Christologv, origin of, 103, 
 
 109 ff. 
 
 Pauly, 169 et passim 
 
 Pauly-Wissowa, 35, 167, 173, 
 et passim 
 
 Pausanias, 32, 160, 164, 174, 
 179 
 
 Peloponncsian War, 32 
 
 Perseus and Jesus, 135 
 
 Persian religion, 187 ff. 
 
 Persians defeated by Alex- 
 ander, 30 
 
 and Hebraic theology, 100 
 Personal Legos, 72 
 Personification of Logos, 117 
 Pesikta Rabbati, 128 
 Peter=Kephas, and Symbols 
 
 of Mithras, 189 
 Petrie 185 ff. 
 Pfleiderer, E., 78 
 
 O., ix.,1, 41, 45, 74, 96 f. 
 
 129, 138, 149 
 
 Pharisaic idea of Messiah, 8, 
 105, 110 f. 
 
 Judaism and N.T., 82 
 
 and Christianity, 82, 128 
 
 and Paul, 129 
 
 Philip of Macedonia, 26 
 
 Philo and Stoic doctrines, 44 
 
 and creating Logos, 44 
 
 and Plato, 123 f. 
 
 Logos of, 44 f., 59, 60 f. 85, 
 
 120 
 
 and Christianity, 45, 144 
 
 and Hebrew thought, 43, 
 
 123 f. 
 
 and Judaism, 123 f. 
 
 Eusebius on, 45 
 
 on First-born Messiah, 119 
 
 and Allegory of Bible, 47 
 
 idea of God in, 123 f. 
 
 and Paul, 85 
 
 and 'Rock,' 87 f. 
 
 and ' Divine Image,' 88, 
 
 118 
 
 and ' Second Adam/ 88 ff. 
 
 and Midrash, 104 
 
 and the Rabbis, 123 
 - and N.T., 84 ff. 
 
 and the Church Fathers, 
 
 123 
 
 Logos of, and the Christ 
 
 of Paul, 84 ff. 
 
 and Egyptian beliefs, 187 
 
 Messiah of, as 'Dayspring/ 
 
 119 
 
 Messiah of, and Logos, 102 
 
 and Jesus, 122 
 
 and Luke, 122 
 
 - and Messianic Age, 23 
 
 on 'Pillar of Cloud/ 80 
 
 and Jewish theology, 43 f. 
 
 and Ecclesiasticus, 80 
 
 philosophy of, 43 f. 
 
 on High Priest, 80 
 
 and Plato, 44 
 
 and allegory, 44 
 
 and 'heavenly man' 106 f. 
 
 and ' earthly man/ 107 
 
 and division of mankind, 
 
 110, 114 
 Philosophy and religion, 56 
 
 Greek, and Gospels, 59 
 Phoenician Religion, 159 ff. 
 Phrygia and Attis, 169 ff. 
 
INDEX 
 
 213 
 
 Pieta, 165 
 Pilate, 49, 127, 178 
 'Pillar of Cloud' and Wisdom, 
 80 
 
 and Logos, 80 
 
 Pinches, 157, 159 
 Plato, xi., 78, 162 
 
 birth of, 127 
 
 as Son of God, 127 
 
 cult of, 34 
 
 world theory of, 56 
 
 and Philo, 44, 123 
 Platonism,56, 58 
 Plutarch, 27, 29, 33, 35, 38 f., 
 
 163, 174, 176, 180 f., 187 
 Pneumatics, 110, 114 
 Poimandrcs, 99, 101, 172 
 Pompey, 39 
 
 Predestination of Messiah, 111 
 Pre-existence of spirit of 
 
 Adam, 104, 106 
 
 of souls, 107 
 
 in Rabbinic teaching, 104, 
 
 110 f. 
 
 in Enoch, 110 
 Pre-existent Messiah, 1, 6, 8, 
 
 16, 96 ff., 105, 130 
 Pre-existent Adam as Messiah, 
 104, 106, 110 
 
 Logos, 106 
 Premundane name of Messiah, 
 
 16 
 
 Polycarp, 20 
 Pope, 194 
 Pott, A., 52, 133 
 Poverty of Jesus, 97 
 Power, Divine, and Wisdom, 
 
 69 
 
 Prayer for Messiah, 24 
 Precession of Equinoxes, 153 
 Pre-Christian Messiah, 12 f., 
 
 110, 129 ff. 
 
 Prisoners, release of, 178 
 Prodigal Son, 122 
 Proserpine, 156, 163 
 Psalms, Son of Man in, 11 
 
 Psalmists and Divine Messiah, 
 
 2,7 
 Psalms of Solomon, and 
 
 Messia'h, 8f.,22f. 
 Pseud-epigraphic literature, 
 
 110 
 
 - and the Church, 9, 115 
 Psychics, 110, 114 
 Ptolemy I., 35 
 
 Purity 'in cult of Mithras, 188 
 " Putting on Christ," 177 
 Pythagoras, 33 
 
 Quintus Curtius, 168 
 Quirinius, 52 
 
 Rabbinic Parallels to N.T., 
 128, 177 
 
 Rabbinic Philosophy and 
 Ethics, 104 
 
 Rabbinical Messianic designa- 
 tions, 108 
 
 Rabbinism and Jewish Hellen- 
 ism, 57, 116 
 
 and Pauline Christology, 
 
 98,101, 103 ff., 128 
 Rabbis and Paul, 87 
 
 and Philo, 123 
 
 and Resurrection, 177 
 Rachel's weeping, 166 
 Radau, 28 
 
 Ram sacred to Sun-God, 153 
 Rammon or Rimmon, 146 
 Ramsay, 83 
 Rashi, 3, 66 
 Re-birth, 173, 177 
 Redeemer, 24 
 
 Reitzenstein 98 f, 101, 118, 172 
 Religion and Philosophy, 56 
 
 of the Greeks, 34, 134 ff. 
 Requietio, 171 
 Resurrection, 24, 82, 139 f., 
 
 148, 157, 195 
 
 of Christ and heathen 
 
 rites, 130 ff, 137, 195 
 
 of God-Messiah, 130 IT. 
 
214 
 
 JNDKX 
 
 Resurrection and sowing of 
 
 the seed, 177 
 
 R.V.,5f., 7,51,66, 131 f., 144 
 Rhode, 178 
 Rise of Christianity, ix., 142, 
 
 148 
 
 Robertson, 187 
 ' Rock ' in Paul and Philo, 87 f. 
 Rock applied to Jesus and 
 
 Mithras, 189 
 Rome, 104, 171 f. 
 Roscher, 39 ff., 54, 159 ct 
 
 passim. 
 Rothenstein, 159 
 
 Sabazius and Sabaoth, 173 
 Sacraments of Church, 37 
 Sacraments in Mithraism and 
 
 Christianity, 192 
 St. Peter's, 194 
 Salvation, 141 
 Sanctuary in Greek Religion, 
 
 33 
 
 Sandan of Tarsus, 169 
 Sanday, 108, 128 
 Sappho, 162 
 Sargon I, 28 
 Satan, 157 
 Saviour-God, Alexander the 
 
 Great as, 30 
 
 Dying, 146 ff. 
 
 versus Supreme God, 
 
 197 
 
 Sayce, 146 
 Schechter, 79 
 Schiele, 91, 109 
 Schlatter, 47, 129 
 Schmiedel, 20, 109, 112, f., 126 
 Schnapp, 115 
 Schottgen, 108 
 Schurer, 17, 62 
 Second Adam, and Logos, 45 
 
 as Messiah, 108 f. 
 
 in Jewish Teaching, 109 
 
 in Philo and Paul, 88 ff., 
 
 103 ff. 
 
 ' Second Man of Heaven ', 91 
 Septuagint, see LXX. 
 Serapis, 180, 186 
 Sermon on the Mount, 47, 82, 
 
 122, 139 
 
 Serpent of* Moses, 70 
 Set and Osiris, 181, 185 
 Seven premundane things, 17 
 Seyffert, 174 
 Shemoneh Esreh and Messiah, 
 
 24 
 
 Shepherd of Hennas, 20 
 Sibylline Books, 170 
 Oracles and Messianic 
 
 Doctrine, 23 f. 
 Siegfried, 43, 45, 64, 71, 83, 
 
 88, 109, 112, 123, 125. 
 Simeon b. Lakish (R.), 103 
 Similitudes of Enoch, 14, 17, 
 
 128 
 interpolations in, 14 f., 
 
 18 
 
 Sin in O.T. and N.T., 89 
 Sinaitic Text of Gospels, 52 
 Sinless Messiah of Paul, 107 
 Sirach, 79 ff. 
 
 Snake and worship of Diony- 
 sus, 175 
 Socrates, xi. 
 
 ' Sol Invictus,' 151, 187, 194 
 Soltau, 41, 51 
 Son of God who dies and 
 
 revivesl26ff.,140ff. 
 
 in Greek Religion, 33 
 
 Son of Man, 1 ff. 
 
 in Daniel, 10 ff. 
 
 as Kingdom of God, 11 
 
 in O.T., 11 
 
 in Enoch, 14, 18 
 
 in Rabbinic Literature, 
 
 17 
 
 S6shyans, 100, 190 f. 
 Soter, 42 
 Sowing of the Seed and 
 
 Resurrection, 177 
 Speculations and Hellenism, 
 
 42 
 
IXDKX 
 
 Spirit = Logos, 77 
 Spirit and Matter, 58 
 
 Holy and Wisdom. 7- 
 
 of God- Messiah, 1H3 
 Spiritual Man, 110, 114, 118 
 
 Messiah in Paul, lu~ 
 Stanley, Dean, 108 
 Stanton, 110 
 
 State Religions, 196 
 
 Stoic Doctrines in Philo, 44 f. 
 
 and Logos, 59 
 
 Studio. Biblica, 27 
 Suetonius, 40 
 Sulla, 39 
 
 Sun-God, 37, 151 ff. 
 Sunday, 195, 198 
 Supernatural Messiah, 5 f., 8r,, 
 
 12 
 
 Swete, 61, 63 
 Synagogue, 42 
 
 and Church, 117 
 
 teaching of, ix. 
 Syncretism in Religion, 57 
 Syriac Gospels, 52 
 
 Tammuz, 146, 149, 154 ff., 159 
 
 identified with Adonis, 159 
 Adonis and Jonah, 
 
 164 f. 
 
 Talmud and Book of Enoch, 
 13 
 
 and Bar Nash," 21 
 
 and Greek, 43 
 
 and Babylonian months, 
 
 154 
 
 Targura, 4, 21, 25, 87, 120 
 Tarsus, 101 
 
 and Paul, 169 
 Taurobolium, 173 
 Teaching of Jesus, ix. 
 Tertullian, 184, 190 f., 193 
 Testaments of xii. Patriarchs. 
 
 and Messiah, 23 
 
 and N.T., 81, 115 
 
 Thackeray, H. St. J., 109 
 Thayer, 63 
 
 ' Third day' or ' Fourth Day ! 
 
 and resurrection, 141 
 Theocritus, 162 
 Theophrastus, 175 
 Thesnwphoria, 178 
 Theudas, 24 
 Thoth, 118 
 Tiamath, 157 
 Tiberius, 53 
 Tohu, 104 
 
 Tokens of heathen rites, 172 
 Toleration in Hellenism, 27 
 Torah. personification of, 117 
 Toy, 83 
 Trede, 37 
 
 Trinitarian controversies, 186 
 Trinity in Babylonian religion, 
 
 155 
 
 in Philo, 60, 187 
 
 in Wisdom, 72 
 
 Egyptian and Christian, 
 
 186 f. 
 
 Truth, claim of, xi. 200 
 Trypho, Dialogue with. 133 
 Trypho, 147 
 Tnbilustrium, 171 
 Tymfanon, 172 
 Tyre, religion of, 168 f. 
 
 Urmensch, 98 
 Usener, 51 f., 127. 
 
 Vegetation, Gods of, 149, ff. 
 Vernal Equinox, 165, 171, 195 
 'Very Image,' 69 
 Vine, Christ as, 119 
 
 in Mythology, 136, 176 
 
 in N.T., 176 
 Virgil, 168 
 
 Virgin Birth, 51 ff., 121, 135, 
 ]39 
 
 Virgin Mary and Aphrodite, 
 
 159 
 
 Vollmer, 62, 91 
 Volz, 25 
 
216 
 
 INDEX 
 
 Wailing women, 156 
 1 Washed in the blood,' 173 
 Weber, 16, 108, 110 
 Weinstein, N., 55 
 Well of the Desert, 87 
 Wellhausen, 20 
 Wendland, 62, 84, 113 
 Wernle, 139 
 
 Westminster N.T., 111 
 Wetstein, 107 
 Wiedemann, 187 
 Windischmann, 190 
 Wine and Bread, 172 
 Wisdom and Logos, 25, 117 
 
 Wisdom of Solomon, 63 ff 
 
 and Epistle to the Hebrews, 
 
 70 f. 
 
 and John, 72 
 
 and Creation, 66 f. 
 
 and Holy Spirit, 72, 115 
 
 and Christ-Logos, 73 
 
 and the Logos, 73 
 
 and Paul, 68 f., 7* ff. 
 
 and Ephesians, 77 
 
 Wisdom and Eccle siasticus, 
 79 
 
 and ' Pillar of Cloud,' 80 
 
 as Mother of Logos, 114 
 
 and Greek thought, 64 
 
 and Stoicism, 63 f. 
 
 and Proverbs, 67 
 
 and the N.T., 68 ff. 
 
 and Divine Power, 69 
 Wissowa, 171 
 Witsius, 81 
 
 Worship of men, 27f, 33 
 Wrede, 138 
 
 Yima, 100 
 
 Zagmuk, 158 
 Zagreus, 174 ff. 
 Zechariah and Dying God- 
 Messiah, 144 ff. 
 Zeller, 59, 85 f. 
 Zeus-Ammon, 29 f. 
 
 sons of, 134 ff. 
 
 Zohar, 117 
 
INDEX OF PASSAGES. 
 
 A. OLD TESTAMENT 
 
 Amos 
 
 
 
 Genesis 
 
 
 viii. 10 ... 
 
 
 I'.w 
 
 164 
 
 i. 2 
 
 
 Paga 
 
 103 f., 107 
 
 ix. 11 ... 
 
 
 
 21 
 
 ii. 7 
 
 ... 
 
 91 
 
 
 Micah 
 
 
 8 
 
 ... 
 
 ... 119 
 
 v. 2 
 
 ... 
 
 of., f>2 
 
 9 
 
 
 ... 118 
 
 3 
 
 
 6 
 
 xxxiii. 10 
 
 ... 
 
 3 
 
 Zechariah 
 
 
 Numbers 
 
 
 vi. 12 ... 
 
 ... ... 
 
 119f. 
 
 xxi. 6-9... 
 
 
 71 
 
 xii. 10, 11 
 
 ... ... 
 
 144 f. 
 
 Deuteronomv 
 v. 5 ' ... 120 
 
 2-7 ... 
 
 Psalms 
 
 145 
 
 __ -1*7 
 
 
 r 
 
 viii. 5 ... 
 
 
 11 
 
 X. 1 i 
 
 
 *. o 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 xxii. 
 
 ... ... 
 
 144 
 
 
 Isaiah 
 
 
 xlvii. 6, 9 
 
 
 
 7 
 
 iv. 2 ... 
 
 ... 
 
 ... 120 
 
 Ivii. 11 ... 
 
 ... 
 
 7 
 
 vii. 14 ... 
 
 ... 
 
 6 
 
 Ixxxix. 27 
 
 
 
 111 
 
 ix. 5 ... 
 
 ... 
 
 ... 3, 5 
 
 cxxvi. 5f. 
 
 
 183 
 
 x. 21 ... 
 
 ... 
 
 5 
 
 cxxxix. 5 
 
 
 
 103 
 
 xi. 2 ... 
 
 ... 
 
 ... 104 
 
 cxlvii. 15 
 
 ... 
 
 72 
 
 xvii. 10 f. 
 xJix. 4, 6, 1 
 liii. 
 
 * ... 
 
 ... 164 
 ... 130 
 ... 130 ff. 
 
 viii. 22 ff. 
 viii. 22-31 
 
 Proverbs 
 
 64 
 65 f. 
 
 1 
 
 ... 
 
 132 
 
 30 ... 
 
 
 66 
 
 4 
 12 ... 
 
 ... 
 
 ... 131 
 132 
 
 32,33 
 
 
 
 66 
 
 lix. 17 ... 
 
 
 78 
 
 
 Job 
 
 
 Jeremiah 
 xxxii. 18 
 
 5 
 
 xv. 7 f. 
 
 Lamentations 
 
 99 
 
 xliv. 17-19 
 
 
 ... 164 
 
 iv. "> 
 
 
 
 66 
 
 
 
 
 
 Esther 
 
 
 
 Ezekiel 
 
 
 ii. 7 
 
 
 66 
 
 viii. 14 ... 
 xxviii. 13f. 
 
 ... 
 
 146, 154 
 99 
 
 vii. 13 ... 
 
 Daniel 
 ... 9 f., 
 
 11, il 
 
 
 Joel 
 
 
 18,27 
 
 
 11 
 
 ii. 32 ... 
 
 ... 
 
 94 
 
 xi. 37 ... 
 
 ... ... 
 
 164 
 
 217 
 
218 
 
 INDEX 
 
 
 Pace 
 
 Page 
 
 B. NEW TESTAMENT 
 
 ix. I, 19, 21-23... 76, 94 f. 
 
 Matthew 
 
 
 x. 9 77 
 16 132 
 
 \. 16 
 18 
 
 ii. 1-12 
 
 52 
 ... 127 
 ... 127 
 
 xi. 32 95 
 34 98 
 
 v. 29 
 
 ... 122 
 
 /. Corinthians 
 
 viii. 17 
 
 131 
 
 vi. 2 77 
 
 xii. 40 
 
 ... 165 
 
 viii. 5 93 
 
 xxiv. 31-45 ... 
 
 9 
 
 6 93, 115 
 
 xxv. 35 
 
 ... 182 
 
 x. 3 78 
 
 xxvi. 29 
 
 ... 176 
 
 4 87 
 
 Mark 
 Ri. 33 
 xv. 28 
 
 55 
 ... 132 
 
 xv. 4 165 
 20-22 90 
 44-49 90 
 
 39 
 
 48 
 
 ii, Corinthians 
 
 
 
 Hi. 18 69 
 
 Luke 
 i. 28 
 
 ... 127 
 
 iv. 4 88, 111 
 v. 2 78 
 
 34,35 
 78 
 
 52 
 ... 120 
 
 4 74, 78 
 16 105 
 
 ii. 4, 5 
 
 52 
 
 17 92 
 
 10 
 
 41 
 
 viii. 9 96 
 
 48-50 
 
 51 
 
 xii. 20 75 
 
 Hi. 1 
 
 53 
 
 
 23 
 
 ... 52 f. 
 
 Galatians 
 
 xxii. 36, 37 ... 
 
 ... 132 f. 
 
 v. 19-21 75 
 
 John 
 i. 14, 18 
 
 73 
 
 Ephesians 
 vi. 11-17 77 
 
 iii. 14 
 
 70 
 
 Philippians 
 
 vii. 41 ... 
 
 52 
 
 ii. 6 88 
 
 viii. 44 
 xii. 24 
 xiv. 17 
 
 XV. 1 
 
 1-10 
 
 73 
 
 ... 167 
 ... 118 
 ... 176 
 ... 119 
 
 Colossians 
 I. 15 88, 111, 120 
 17 116 
 19 120 
 
 xix. 37 
 
 ... 144 
 
 i. Thessalonians 
 
 Acts 
 
 
 iv. 16 120 
 
 xiv. 11,12 
 xxvi. 13 
 
 48 
 ... 116 
 
 i. Timothy 
 
 Romans 
 
 
 \. 9, 10 75 
 
 \. 20 
 
 21, 29 
 
 74 
 75 
 
 Epistle to the Hebrews 
 i. 2, 3 69 
 
 ii. 4 
 
 78 
 
 iv. 12 71 
 
 v. 12-21 
 
 89 
 
 
 viii. 3 
 
 96, 114 
 
 Jude 
 
 29 
 
 ... 120 
 
 14,15 81 
 
INDEX 
 
 219 
 
 Page 
 
 Revelation 
 iii. 14 120 
 
 C. APOCRYPHA 
 
 AND PSEUDEPIGRAPHA 
 
 Wisdom 
 
 i. 6 67 
 
 13 73 
 
 16 ii. 24 64 
 
 ii. 24 73 
 
 iii. 8 77 
 
 v. 17-20 78 
 
 18 77 
 
 vii. 22 65, 67, 71 ff. 
 
 22-24 64, 68 
 
 25,27 68 
 
 26 67 ff., 88 
 
 viii. 3, 4, 9 67 
 
 ix. 4 67 
 
 15 74, 78 
 
 17 f. 72,116 
 
 x. 1 ff. 67 
 
 xi. 15 75 
 
 23 77 
 
 xii. 20, 21 76 
 
 xiv. 24 f., 27 75 
 
 xv. 1,2 79 
 
 7 76 
 
 xvi. 12 70 
 
 20 78 
 
 xvii. 11 76 
 
 xviii. 15, 16 71 
 
 Ecclesiasticus 
 
 xxiv. 3-5 25, 80 
 
 9, 10 1 80 
 
 32 116 
 
 xxxiii. 12, 13 76 
 
 ii. Maccabees 
 iv. 18-20 168 
 
 Psalms of Solomon 
 
 xvii., xviii 8, 22 
 
 xvii. 27 23 
 
 41 22 
 
 Enoch (Ethiopic) 
 
 xlii. 1 117 
 
 xlv 18 
 
 xlvi. ... 18 
 
 xlviii. ... 
 
 1-10 ... 
 
 6,7 
 
 7 
 
 xlix. 1 
 
 Ixxi 
 
 cviii. 8, 9, 10 ... 
 
 8, 14 ff. 
 
 14-16, 110 
 
 16 
 
 18 
 
 ... 117 
 18 
 18 
 
 Apocalypse ofBaruch 
 Hv. 19 ......... 89 
 
 iv. Ezra 
 vi - 1 ......... 12 
 
 V"- 29 ...... 130 133 
 
 118 ......... 89 
 
 xii. 32 ......... m 
 
 Sibylline Oracles 
 iii. 652 f. ...... 24 
 
 Testaments of the xii. 
 
 Patriarchs 
 Reub. vi. 8 ... 115 
 
 11 ......... 23 
 
 Sim. vi. 4, 5 ...... 23 
 
 Levi viii. 14, 15 ...23, 115 
 
 xviii. 7, 9 ...... 23 
 
 Judah xxiv. 1-3 ... 23 
 
 Assumption of Moses 
 ix. ......... 82 
 
 D. PHILO 
 
 de Mundi opific., 46. 
 
 .. 112 
 
 51. 
 
 69 
 
 de Cherub., 20. 
 
 47 
 
 35. 
 
 44 
 
 de Plant., 5 . 
 
 69 
 
 11- 
 
 .. 118 
 
 de Conf. Ling., ij!4. 
 
 120 
 
 28. 
 
 .. 120 
 
 de Profugis, 19. 
 
 85 
 
 20. 
 
 ..80,114 
 
 de Leg. Alleg. i. 12 
 
 106, 112 
 
 de Somn., i. 11. 
 
 44 
 
 37. 
 
 .. 114 
 
 41. 
 
 .. 117 
 
 de Vit. Mos., i. 29. 
 
 80 
 
 Quod Deur immut.,6. 
 
 60 
 
220 
 
 INDEX 
 
 Page 
 
 Quis rerum div. heres, 12 114 
 42.. .25, 44, 80, 86, 121 
 
 nvh 25 
 anp p 4 
 
 Quod det. pot. insid., 23 69 
 
 rviasipo 156 
 
 43 122 
 
 *7Ei 21 
 
 48 122 
 
 rvn ires 91 
 
 De Praemiis et Poenis, 
 
 B"n notw 91 
 
 16 23 
 
 p? 25 
 
 
 nox ... ... 120 
 
 E. RABBINIC 
 LITERATURE 
 
 B"IM nil 104 
 
 Mishna 
 
 G. GREEK WORDS 
 
 Synhedrin x. 1-3 ... 24 
 
 ' \ ' 1 1 n f 
 UVCLTO\.II ... ... 1 1 y I. 
 
 Abothv. 9 87 
 
 * / -i f-\ *-j 
 
 
 GLVlKtJTO? ... 
 
 Tosephta 
 
 ' / cf\ 
 
 cnrctvycKT/uLa ... oy 
 
 Berachoth iii. 25 ... 24 
 
 
 Talmud Jerushalmi 
 
 aoY7 120 
 
 Taanith ii. 1 65a ... 21 
 65 ... 22 
 
 Satfioves ... ''.'. 32 
 
 
 ow/u.ioupyo9 ... 189 
 
 Talmud Babli 
 
 
 Pesachim, 54<z ... 87 
 
 dvva/u.is ... ... 73 
 
 Chagiga, 120 ... 106 
 
 CIKWV Ill 
 
 Megilla9a 61 
 
 etV ve<j>e\t}v ... 25 
 
 Nedarim39 17 
 
 ^* ^ ^** Ql 
 
 Aboda Zara, Sa ... 189 
 Synhedrin 960 21 
 
 evroXai ... ... 192 
 
 Meila200 21 
 
 7TTW^eV(r 
 
 Sopherim i. 7 57 
 
 Oeo9 ... ... 44 
 
 Midrashim 
 
 tepa -irapQevos ... 176 
 
 Gen. Rab. i. 4 17 
 
 KJ/CMO9 ... ... 94 f. 
 
 ii. 4 104 
 
 K-vptos 2a^a^to?. .. 173 
 
 viii. 1 103 ff. 
 
 K.VOIOC 2ai8ac60 173 
 
 Lev. Rab. xiv. 1 ... 103 
 
 l j f r 1 
 
 Tanchuma (Buber) 
 
 ^(TiTt]S 
 
 Tazria 1 2 103 
 
 /J.T] ov ... ... 123 
 
 Nahsso 17 
 
 iravoTr\i a . . . ... 77 
 
 Midrash Tehillim on 
 Ps. cxxxix 5 ... 104 
 
 irvev/j.0. ... 69, 113, 118 
 Trvevfjia o)O7roiovv 91 
 
 F. HEBREW WORDS 
 
 6jmlx\tj ... ... 25 
 
 iy tan 3 
 
 i / >-f> 
 (TO(plCl ... ... /^ 
 
 M 25 
 
 a-itrnp 174 
 
 pnwn BIX 112 
 
 crarrtjpia 174 
 
 injj SK 3 
 
 J10K 65 f. 
 
 T <Wo9 30 
 vl 09 TOU avQpwirov 11 
 
 B^DMn ... .. 66 
 
 ' /Jrt 
 
 Xapa/myp ... ... o 
 
 'Sfi3 13 ... .. 21 
 
 / o -P 
 XpiO"TO9 ... ... O I. 
 
 "Express" Printers, 89, Commercial Street, London. 
 
ERRATA. 
 
 PAQK 
 
 LIXB 
 
 INSTEAD OF 
 
 BEAD 
 
 3 
 
 3 
 
 Drews 
 
 Drews 1 
 
 
 16 
 
 travail 
 
 travail, 
 
 30 
 
 11 
 
 crossings 
 
 crossing 
 
 32 
 
 10 
 
 naturally, 
 
 naturally 
 
 55 
 
 18 
 
 course, 
 
 course 
 
 55 
 
 21 
 
 Athens, 
 
 Athens 
 
 36 
 
 15 
 
 good, 
 
 good 
 
 86 
 
 31 
 
 P kilos., 
 
 Philos, 
 
 94 
 
 19 
 
 between the 
 
 between 
 
 103 
 
 29 
 
 Tzasria 
 
 Tasrid 
 
 112 
 
 12 
 
 substance. 1 
 
 substance." 1 
 
 114 
 
 2 
 
 Image. 1 
 
 Image." 1 
 
 120 
 
 9 
 
 Revelations 
 
 Revelation 
 
 126 
 
 Headline 
 
 CHARTER 
 
 CHAPTER 
 
 127 
 
 30 
 
 Untersuchungen 
 
 Untersuchungen i., 
 
 135 
 
 55 
 
 ^Ibid. 
 
 n -Ibid. 
 
 136 
 
 3 
 
 vine. 1 
 
 vine." 1 
 
 144 
 
 30 
 
 John. 
 
 John' 
 
 147 
 
 6 
 
 very much 
 
 much 
 
 55 
 
 29 
 
 him. 
 
 in him. 
 
 149 
 
 15 
 
 seems 
 
 seem 
 
 158 
 
 19 
 
 Demiurg, 
 
 Demiurge, 
 
 189 
 
 25 
 
 dp. 
 
 tit. 
 
 191 
 
 30 
 
 40. 
 
 3062. 
 
UCSB LIBRARY 
 
 X 
 
000 538 081